The Effect of Occult Development Upon the Self and the Sheaths of Man
GA 145
28 March 1913, The Hague
Lecture IX
From a poet who died some years ago. On one occasion, in the second half of the '80s of last century, he said to me that he was very anxious about the future of humanity. I admit that his expression of anxiety was somewhat of a paradox, but he was very much in earnest in his anxiety as to the tendency he wished to point out by his paradox; indeed, this anxiety inclined him to a certain pessimism. It seemed to him that the development of humanity in the future would be such that man would principally develop his head more and more, and that, compared with his head, all the other parts of a man would be stunted. He was very much in earnest over this idea, and he expressed this in paradox by saying that he was afraid the reasoning intellectual nature of man would get the upper hand to such an extent that the head would become like a great globe, and that men would then roll on earth as balls. The anxiety was very real to the man, for he reflected that we are living in the age of intellectualism, of the development of the intellectual powers which are expressed in the head, and that these reasoning powers would increase more and more, and that mankind was moving towards an unenviable future. Now that, of course, is a very paradoxical statement, and we might say also, in a certain sense, that even the anxiety which gave rise to his pessimism is also paradoxical. But the human intellect has a tendency to deteriorate, to draw conclusions when some or other observation has been made, and this is a case in point. This may be amply noticed in the realm of the theosophical movement as well as in the external, exoteric life. In external, exoteric life we do not have to look very far before we notice that the observations made by man at various times have always given rise to a great number of theories. How many hypotheses have been abandoned as worthless in the course of the evolution of humanity! In the theosophical-occult field it can also be observed that someone who has undergone occult training, and has thus acquired some clairvoyant power, may recount something from true clairvoyant observation, and then come the theorists who invent all sorts of schemes and theories, and so the matter develops. Very often the observation is quite an insignificant one, but the schemes and theories built upon it include whole worlds. That is always the danger; the intellect has this tendency. We have this tendency in a fairly passable sense in the well-known book, ‘Esoteric Buddhism’ by Sinnett. This book is based upon a number of genuine occult facts; these are in the middle of the book, and relate to the middle of the development of the earth. But upon these facts he built up a scheme of Rounds and Races, and this only rolls and turns, as it were, upon itself, always more or less in the same way. They are inferences, theories, made from the few genuine data to be found in the book. And this was the case also with my poet. In the background he had a sort of unconscious, instinctive imagination which told him something true; we might say, there is half an ounce of truth, and from this he made a hundred-weight, or many hundred-weight. We often find cases such as this in the world. Now, what is the truth of the matter? The truth is this, that in our age man's head is undergoing a certain evolution, the formation of the head, the whole structure of the head will undergo change in the future. If we direct our attention to a very far-distant period in the earth's evolution, we have to imagine that, for example, the formation of the human forehead, nose, and jaws will have undergone essential changes, and that, in a certain sense, all the rest which the human being bears as his earthly organism will have retrograded; but, of course, never, during the earth period, will the relation of the developing head to the rest of the body be that of a rolling globe. This must only be taken literally to a very, very limited extent. On the other hand, in ancient epochs of development on the earth, before the middle of the Atlantean epoch, the rest of the human organism was capable of change; it was engaged in a sort of development. Apart from the head, the human organism has changed comparatively little—and again I say comparatively little—since the middle of the Atlantean epoch; on the other hand, prior to that time the remainder of the human organism underwent great changes. From this you will be able to draw the inference—which will now be correct, because it is nothing but an actual observation clothed in words—that the further we go back into the Atlantean and Lemurian epochs the more essentially different man looked, even to his own observation. In the ancient Lemurian epoch, man looked quite different from what he now recognises as himself at the present day.
The appearance man would have presented to himself in the latter portion of the Lemurian epoch is apparent to him again, in a certain way, when he gradually approaches the clairvoyant impression leading to what we have described as the Paradise-Imagination. I have, indeed, told you—and it is true—that this Paradise-Imagination corresponds to a complete delineation of the human being, the physical human body, so to say, as the Paradise itself. Man separated—as it were—he divided; the present corporeal nature appeared outspread in the manner described; but at that time, the actual time to which we look back clairvoyantly, and we have the Paradise Legend before us, a mighty leap forward was made. And through this movement—which may also be observed by means of clairvoyance—what might be called the outspread human being was drawn together relatively rapidly into that which then became the starting-point of man for the development which followed. Directly after the time corresponding to the Paradise-Imagination, the form of man was, however, quite unlike what has developed out of it to-day. And, fundamentally, all that surrounded man in the kingdoms of nature was also quite unlike his present surroundings.
I have already mentioned in the previous lectures of this course that the pupil might attain to this Paradise-Imagination if he were suddenly to become clairvoyant for a moment during sleep, and to look back, as it were, at his physical body and etheric body, stimulated to this Imagination by these. On the whole, it may be said that a great deal of esoteric development is necessary before attaining to this Paradise-Imagination. The student must have gained many victories in order to transform his own personal interests into those common to humanity and the world. There then comes, when from the very deepest sleep—for there are degrees of sleep—he passes to a less deep sleep, and in this less deep sleep becomes clairvoyant—there comes what later in earthly evolution became reality: The condition of man in the ancient Lemurian epoch after he had made the great leap forward.
Thus we say that it is possible to see this primeval period of the earth through separation in the self and astral body from the physical body and etheric body, looking back at them. Now, as the order of nature comes to our aid—for in the night we are outside our physical body—we can make use of this arrangement of nature, and so regulate the training that, as if awaking out of sleep, but not returning to the physical body—as if awaking in a different state of consciousness—we see the physical body. From this you will be able to gather that the vision we have just spoken of provides the only true possibility of learning to know how man was formed in the primeval past.
In the far-distant future will come a time when we shall be able to say: How extraordinary were those people of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries! They believed themselves able to discover the origin of man by means of the external investigation of nature; they thought they could draw conclusions regarding the ancestry of man from the observation of the animals surrounding them on the physical plane. However, through the true development of human knowledge, it becomes evident that we can only arrive at a true idea of the origin of man upon the earth, and of his ancient form, by means of clairvoyant observation, and that we can never obtain insight into what man was like in the Lemurian epoch, for example, except through clairvoyant observation, through the retrospective vision stimulated by the impressions of one's own physical body and etheric body. But then it will be seen—this will be admitted in that future time—that man was never like any of the animal forms about him in the nineteenth or twentieth centuries; for the forms which man had in that time, and which manifest themselves to his clairvoyant consciousness in the way we have described, are different from all the animal forms around man in the nineteenth century. And even the expressions we have made use of—bull, lion, etc.—are only used comparatively. The men of the future will say how very grotesque it is to see the way people in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries traced back their ancestry to ape-like beings; for in the Lemurian epoch there were no apes at all in the form in which they later appeared upon earth; they only originated at a much later period, from degraded and degenerated human forms. Animal beings which may be compared to our present apes can only be found by clairvoyant vision about the middle of the Atlantean epoch of the earth's evolution. The further we go back in the development of humanity, the more we see that to the clairvoyant view, in the vision of our self during sleep in the night, our shape, our form in ancient times is to some extent preserved. And so it comes about that, when a student thus looks at himself, he learns to recognise his physical corporeality in an infinitely more delicate etheric body, one might say, though not in the sense of our present ether. Thus does man appear. His form appears more as a vivid dream-picture than as the form of flesh and blood he now bears. We have to become acquainted with the idea that when the self and astral body are outside the human being they can scarcely see the head; it is quite shadowy; not completely blotted out, but quite shadowy. On the other hand, the rest of the organisation of man is distinct. That is shadowy, too, but its condition is such that the human being does not appear as made of flesh and blood, but one has the distinct impression that he possesses a more powerful organisation. It may appear paradoxical, yet it is true that when a man looks at himself clairvoyantly in sleep he has at certain moments such an appearance—that is, to the self and astral body, his physical body and etheric body present such an appearance—that he is reminded of the form of the Centaur! The upper part, which appears in the Centaur as the human part, bears the human face, but in a very shadowy form; the other part, which is not exactly like any of our present animal forms, but which is reminiscent of them in certain respects, is more powerful, and the seer says to himself: ‘To the spiritual view this is stronger, even denser, than our present form of flesh and blood.’ I have already touched upon these matters in a previous course of lectures; but you must understand that all these Imaginations, except the Paradise-Imagination, are fugitive, and can be presented from different aspects. I might also present a somewhat different aspect—and you would see that this only corresponds to a different period of development—and then we should arrive at the form of the Sphinx. The consecutive order of the evolution of man is presented in various aspects, in different views. The mythological pictures, the so-called mythological symbols, contain much more truth than the fantastic intellectual combinations made by present-day science.
Thus, at night the human figure becomes very peculiar. Something else now becomes clear. When we consider with clairvoyant eye this lower part which reminds us of an animal, we become acquainted with something which makes a very definite impression upon us; as I observed in the last lecture, these impressions, these inner experiences, are really the essential thing. The pictures are important, but the inner experiences are still more so. We reach an impression so that we know afterwards: That which really drives me during the day to my personal interests alone, that which inoculates my soul with merely personal interests, is the outcome of what I observe at night as my lower animal part. During the day I do not see it; but it is within me as forces, and these are the forces which draw me down to a certain extent, and lead me astray into personal interests.
Developing this impression more and more brings us to the recognition of the place Lucifer really fills in our evolution. The further we direct our clairvoyant vision back towards the time that corresponds to the Paradise-Imagination, the more beautiful becomes the structure, which is really only reminiscent in a later time of what belongs to the animal—kingdom. And if we go back altogether into what belongs to Paradise, where the animal continuation of man appears as though separated from man himself, and multiplied into—bull, lion, and eagle, we may then say that these forms—which we know in those ancient times by these names—may also in a certain sense be for us symbols of beauty. More and more beautiful become these forms, and, going still further back, to the time of which we spoke in the last lecture, when we represented the impression of the sacrifice, we arrive at the period when Lucifer's true form appears to us in sublime beauty, just as he wished to preserve himself unchanged in the evolution from the ancient Moon to the earth.
From the account I have given in ‘Occult Science,’ you know that on ancient Moon the astral body was given to man. What we bear within us in our astral body played a great part on the ancient Moon. We have described it as personal selfhood, as egotism. This egotism had to be implanted in man on the ancient Moon, and, as man received his astral body on the ancient Moon, egotism has its seat in the astral body; and, as Lucifer has preserved his Moon-nature, he has brought egotism to the earth as the inner soul-quality of his beauty. Therefore, on the one hand he is the Spirit of Beauty, and on the other the Spirit of Egotism. And what we may call his error is only this: that he has transplanted to the earth something which, as far as man is concerned, if I may use the expression, belonged to the ancient Moon; that is, the permeating and impregnating of himself with egotism. But thereby, as has often been said, was given to man the possibility of becoming a self-contained, free being, which he never would have become if Lucifer had not carried over egotism from the Moon to the Earth.
Thus inner experience teaches us to know Lucifer as the Night Spirit, as it were. And it is part of the change that goes on in our self and our astral body that at night we feel—ourselves in the company of Lucifer.
You may perhaps at first think—if you only think superficially—that it must be disagreeable to a person, when he goes to sleep and becomes clairvoyant, to become aware that—during the night he comes into Lucifer's company. But if you reflect more deeply, you will soon come to the conclusion that it is wiser for us to learn to recognise Lucifer; it is better to know that we are in his company than to think that he is not there, and yet have him invisibly active with his forces within us, as, indeed, is the case during the day. The evil does not consist in Lucifer's being by our side, for we gradually learn to recognise him as the Spirit who brings—us freedom; the evil consists in our not recognising him. But after men had caught sight of him, as it were, when he misled them in the Lemurian epoch, they were not permitted to see him any more; for then, in addition to that original misleading in the Lemurian epoch, there would have been innumerable other smaller misleadings. Therefore, the divine-Spiritual Being who was watching over the progress of mankind had to draw a veil over the vision of the night. Thereby man lost as well all else that he would have seen during sleep. Sleep covers from man with darkness the world in which he is from the time of his going to sleep until he awakens. At the withdrawal of the veil which covers the night with darkness, we should instantly perceive Lucifer by our side. If man were strong enough, this would do no harm; but as at first he could not be strong in the sense required by our earthly development, this veil had to be drawn during his sleep at night. After the first great misleading, which left in its train the possibility of human freedom, no other misleadings, through the direct vision of Lucifer from the time of his going to sleep until reawakening, were to come to man.
Now, there is an equivalent. We cannot see Lucifer at night if during the day we do not see his comrade, Ahriman. Thus to the student who has progressed as far as this in the development of his self and his astral body, the daily experience which allows him to have the vision of outer objects becomes different from what it is to the ordinary man. He learns to recognise that he sees things in a different light from before the development of his self and his astral body. He first learns to look upon certain impressions, which ordinarily he considered in an abstract manner, as the activities of the Ahrimanic beings. Thus that which comes from outside, which awakens desire in him from outside—not that which comes from within, for that is Luciferic—but that which attracts him in the objects and beings around him, so that he follows this attraction from personal interests; in short, all that entices him to enjoyment from outside he learns to recognise as bearing the impress of Ahriman. We also learn to recognise this in all that rouses fear within us from outside. They are the two poles—enjoyment and fear. Around us are the so-called material world and the so-called Spiritual world; both these in our ordinary waking life are enveloped in illusion. The external world of the senses appears as maya, or illusion, for people do not see that whenever they are stimulated to enjoyment by outer objects and beings Ahriman peeps out and calls forth the enjoyment in the soul. But the fact that there is a true Spiritual nature everywhere in matter—which the materialists deny—that produces fear, and when the materialists notice that fear is beginning to appear from the astral depths of their soul, they then stupefy themselves, and think out materialistic theories; for what the poet says is profoundly true, ‘People never notice the devil (that is Ahriman), even when he has them by the collar.’ To what end are materialistic meetings held? In order to swear allegiance to the devil. This is literally true, only they do not know it. Whenever materialists gather together to-day, to explain in beautiful theories that nothing exists but matter, Ahriman then has them by the collar; and there is no more favourable opportunity for studying the devil to-day than by going to a gathering of materialists or monists. Thus, when a man has undergone a certain development in his astral body and self, Ahriman accompanies him at every step. When we begin to see him, then we can protect ourselves from him; we can see Ahriman spying out in the allurements of enjoyment and in the impressions of fear.
Again, on account of the immaturity of man, it was necessary that Ahriman should be hidden; that is, a veil was drawn over his nature. This was done somewhat differently from in the case of Lucifer; the outer world was plunged into maya for man, giving him the illusion that outside in the world, instead of Ahriman peeping out, there was matter everywhere. Wherever man dreams there is matter, there is, in reality, Ahriman; and the greatest illusion is the materialistic theory of physics about the material atoms, for in reality these are nothing but the forces of Ahriman.
Now, humanity as a whole is developing, evolving, and this evolution advances so that towards our future man will actually develop the powers of pure intellect more and more. This will cause his head to assume a different shape externally. In a certain respect the beginning of this development towards intellectuality was made with the dawn of modern natural science, about the sixteenth century. When intensified, this intellectual development will exercise great influence upon the self and the astral body of man. A time set in when there still remained traditions of the old clairvoyance. These came in contact with one another exactly at the dawn of our modern natural science. It was precisely in the sixteenth century; it was then known that a future would come when, through the higher development of the self and astral body, man would be able really to see Ahriman more and more clearly. Then, because in the early period of intellectual development it struggled against the perception of the Spiritual with all its might, a darkening set in; but in the figure of Mephistopheles, who is none other than Ahriman, at the side of Faust, the sixteenth century was able to point out that, fundamentally, Ahriman will become more and more dangerous in a conscious manner to the future development of humanity; that Mephistopheles will become more and more a sort of tempter of the human race. At that time this could only be demonstrated because man still had a remembrance of the ancient Spiritual figures. But this has now been forgotten by the general body of humanity, though in the future the knowledge will be forced on man that through all his waking life he is accompanied by Ahriman-Mephistopheles. Naturally, this corresponds to the complementary picture that man is living towards a future when, each time he awakes, he will have—at first like a fleeting dream, but later more clearly—the impression: ‘Thy companion during the night was Lucifer.’ You see from this that through the theosophical-occult development of the self and astral body we may have the fore-knowledge of what will come to humanity in the future, we can dimly sense the companionship of Ahriman and Lucifer. Through a definite law of evolution, Lucifer first came to man during the Lemurian epoch, then later, as the consequences of the Luciferic influence, came the Ahrimanic. In the future this will be reversed: The Ahrimanic will first be strong, and subsequently the Luciferic influence will be added. In the ever-developing clairvoyant conditions of the human soul, the Ahrimanic influence will work principally in the waking condition, the Luciferic influence principally during sleep, or in all the conditions which are indeed similar to sleep, but in which there is consciousness.
Thus, as Ahriman entered our external sensible life in our waking condition, man first needed a protection against Ahriman during this waking condition. These protective impulses are given in the development of humanity many, many centuries before the danger appears. Although the general body of humanity has not yet developed the full consciousness of Ahriman-Mephistopheles, the protective impulse came at the beginning of our era in the physical appearance of Christ in the earth-development. Christ once appeared in the physical body in the earth-development to make provision that man might be armed, through receiving the Christ-impulse, against the necessary influence which will come from Ahriman-Mephistopheles. The power through which man will be armed later on when the Luciferic influence is there, is an influence which will affect a different consciousness; man will be armed against this by the appearance of Christ in the etheric body, regarding which we have often said that it is drawing near. Just as Christ appeared once in a physical body and thence his impulse has proceeded further, so from this twentieth century onward Christ will be seen in an etheric form, at first by a small number, and then by an ever-increasing number of human beings. Thus we see that the progressive development of man is brought about by a kind of equilibrium; a kind of balancing of the different impulses. What is related in the Gospels as the story of the Temptation, the confronting of Lucifer and Ahriman by Christ, portrayed in different ways in the different Gospels—I have spoken of this on a previous occasion—is a sign that through the Christ-Impulse, through the Mystery of Golgotha, man will be able to find the right way of development in the future. It forms part of a true development of the self and the astral body of man that in this transformed self and astral body he can receive the impressions of the positions occupied by Ahriman, Lucifer, and Christ in the development of humanity, and a correct development of the self and astral body leads to this knowledge of the three impulses which condition the evolution of mankind.
A correct development, however, includes the extension of the sense of self in the astral body to interests common to humanity and the world. And it acts like poison when a man carries his personal aspirations into those regions of his clairvoyant observation which he ought only to observe when filled with interests common to humanity and the world. He cannot then perceive the truth, but has imaginations which are incorrect, untrue, which are only the reflections of his own personal interests and aspirations. It may sometimes happen that a clairvoyant who is still filled with personal aspirations and interests experiences something like the following. I received a letter in which someone wrote that he had to communicate something that I ought to know. He said that Christ was reborn in a physical body, and his address is somewhere in London, W.; that Mary is reborn in a physical body; her address is that of his niece, in such-and-such a street. Paul is reborn, and was his brother-in-law, and his address was also given. And all those mentioned in the Gospels were reborn among the relatives, and in this letter all their various addresses were given. I could show this letter to anyone: it is a document—grotesque as it may appear—which shows the effect of carrying personal interests into those heights where there should only be the interests of the world and of humanity.
But now we must clearly understand that when someone makes a mistake in abstract intellectual knowledge in general, this kind of error can easily be controlled, it is something that can be done away with comparatively quickly, although, indeed, human knowledge has the frightful origin, which was referred to in the last lecture. As the knowledge of man, which is expressed in our waking daily life, receives such diluted impulses that everyone may develop perfect freedom with respect to them, hence no one need be dazzled by the foolish things thought out by human intellect, and those who allow themselves to be dazzled by these foolish imaginings can be cured in a comparatively short time. But suppose that in this clairvoyant observation a person arrives at incorrect imaginations in the manner we have described; these incorrect imaginings then act as a poison in the soul in a certain way; they poison it by obliterating the healthy human reason and intellectual grasp. Thus they injure one much more deeply than do merely intellectual follies. If, therefore, we try to permeate everything obtained in the fields of occultism with the forms of sound human intellect, we do well. If an Imagination is simply given out, without any attempt to justify it, as we have tried to justify such in this course of lectures (and incorrect imaginations would only be cited as mere imaginations), then this will impose upon the very faculty in others which should bestir itself to reject such imaginations. And it might very well be that, while one who spreads intellectual follies may easily provoke criticism, one who spreads false imaginations by this means takes away from those who believe in him the power to criticise; that is, he blinds them to the challenge that ought to be given to the imaginations in question.
From this we may gather, my dear friends, how very necessary it is that the moment the knowledge goes beyond what is intended for man in the natural course of evolution, the moment a man uplifts himself to clairvoyant knowledge, how unconditionally necessary it is that his development should move unswervingly towards interests common to humanity and the world. This will always be recognised in true occultism. And to assert the opposite, that there can be sound entry into the Spiritual world, that is, a sound development of the astral body and the self apart from the extension of the human interests to selfless world-interests and interests common to humanity; that is, to make the opposite affirmation to the one made here, could only spring from a disposition that permeates occultism with frivolity. We must bear in mind the serious importance of these things in speaking of the changes which take place in the astral body and the Self of man during his higher Spiritual development.
Zehnter Vortrag
Ich kannte einmal einen jetzt lange verstorbenen Dichter. Der Mann äußerte einmal mir gegenüber in der zweiten Hälfte der achtziger Jahre des vorigen Jahrhunderts, daß er eine große Angst habe vor der Zukunft der Menschheit — und ich betone, daß der Ausdruck seiner Angst zwar vielleicht etwas paradox war, daß es ihm aber mit dieser Angst selber und mit der Richtung, worauf er mit seinem paradoxen Ausdrucke hindeuten wollte, ganz bitter ernst war - ja, er war zu einem gewissen Pessimismus gestimmt, weil er diese Angst hatte. Er sagte nämlich, daß es ihm vorkomme, als ob die Entwicklung der Menschheit nach der Zukunft hin sich so vollzöge, daß der Mensch vorzugsweise immer mehr und mehr seinen Kopf ausbilden würde und daß alles übrige am Menschen gegenüber dem Kopf verkümmern würde. Es war ihm bitter ernst, wie gesagt, um diese Vorstellung, und er drückte das paradox so aus: daß er fürchte, das verständige, intellektuelle Wesen des Menschen könne einmal so überhand nehmen, daß der Kopf wie eine große Kugel wäre und daß die Menschen sich dann so fortrollen würden wie Kugeln auf der Erde. Dem Mann war es bitter Ernst mit dieser seiner Angst; denn er dachte sich eben, daß wir in dem Zeitalter des Intellektualismus leben, der Ausbildung der intellektuellen Kräfte, die ihren Ausdruck im Kopfe haben, und daß diese Intelligenzkräfte immer mehr und mehr zunehmen werden, so daß der Mensch einer wenig Sehnsucht erweckenden Zukunft entgegengehe.
Nun ist das natürlich ein ganz paradoxer Ausspruch, und man könnte in gewisser Weise sagen: Auch die Angst, die ihm seinen Pessimismus eingegeben hat, ist in einer gewissen Weise paradox. Aber wie es dem Verstand so häufig geht, so auch in diesem Falle: der Verstand des Menschen nämlich, der hat die Tendenz, auszuarten, Folgerungen zu ziehen, wenn irgendeine Beobachtung vorliegt. Man kann das sowohl im äußeren, exoterischen Leben wie auch auf dem Gebiete der theosophischen Bewegung hinlänglich bemerken. Im äußeren, exoterischen Leben braucht man sich nur ein wenig umzusehen, so wird man bemerken, daß die Erfahrungen, die wirklichen Beobachtungen, die der Mensch im Laufe der Zeiten gemacht hat, immer eine Unsumme von Theorien, Hypothesen hervorgerufen haben. Wie viele Hypothesen sind im Laufe der Menschheitsentwicklung als wertlos sozusagen in den Abgrund versunken! Auf anthroposophisch-okkultem Gebiete kann man die Bemerkung machen, daß irgend jemand, der okkulte Schulung hat, der also in einem gewissen Sinne hellseherische Kräfte hat, dieses oder jenes aus der wirklich hellseherischen Beobachtung heraus mitteilt und daß dann die Theoretiker kommen und dann alle möglichen Schemas und Theorien erfinden: die Dinge werden ausgebaut. Oftmals ist die Beobachtung klein, aber die Schemas und Theorien, die darauf aufgebaut sind, sind ganze Welten umfassend. Das ist eben immer das Schlimme, daß solche Tendenz des Verstandes vorliegt. Wir haben ja diese Tendenz in einem gewissermaßen noch dezenten Sinn bei dem berühmten Buch «Esoterischer Buddhismus» von Sinnett. Diesem Buch liegt eine Anzahl von wirklichen okkulten Tatsachen zugrunde; die stehen in den mittleren Partien des Buches, beziehen sich auf die mittlere Entwicklung der Erde. Dann aber ist darauf ein Schematismus gebaut von Runden und Rassen, und das rollt und kollert nur so um sich herum in immer mehr oder weniger gleicher Weise. Das sind Folgerungen, Theorien, die gemacht worden sind aus den wenigen wirklichen, den Tatsachen entsprechenden Angaben, die sich in diesem Buche auch finden. Und so war es auch sozusagen bei meinem Dichter. Er hatte eine Art unbewußter instinktiver Imagination im Hintergrunde, die ihm etwas sagte, was wahr ist, man möchte sagen, ein Lot wahr ist, und er hat einen oder sogar viele Zentner daraus gemacht. Solche Dinge kommen oftmals in der Welt vor. Was ist die Wahrheit an der Sache?
Die Wahrheit ist diese, daß in der Tat für unser gegenwärtiges Zeitalter, für unseren jetzigen Erdenzyklus der Mensch in bezug auf sein Haupt in einer gewissen Evolution begriffen ist, daß die Formation des Hauptes, die ganze Ausbildung des Hauptes gegen die Zukunft hin Veränderungen erfahren wird. Wenn wir den Blick auf eine sehr ferne Erdenzukunft hin richten, haben wir uns in der Tat vorzustellen, daß zum Beispiel die menschliche Stirnbildung, die menschliche Nasenbildung, die menschliche Kieferbildung wesentliche Veränderungen erfahren haben werden, daß in einer gewissen Weise allerdings zurückgegangen sein wird alles übrige, was der Mensch als Erdenorganismus an sich trägt; aber selbstverständlich wird das Verhältnis des sich fortentwickelnden Hauptes zu dem übrigen Leibe während der Erdenzeit nie das einer fortkollernden Kugel sein. Also in einem sehr, sehr engen Maße ist durchaus das wahrzunehmen. Dafür war in älteren Entwicklungsepochen der Erde, vor der Mitte der atlantischen Zeit, der übrige Organismus des Menschen veränderlich, in einer Art von Bildung begriffen. Verhältnismäßig wenig - verhältnismäßig wenig - hat sich seit der Mitte der atlantischen Zeit der Organismus des Menschen außer dem Kopfe verändert; dagegen vor der atlantischen Zeit hat der Mensch in bezug auf seinen übrigen Organismus große Veränderungen durchgemacht. Daraus werden Sie die Folgerung ableiten können - die jetzt aber richtig ist, weil sie nichts anderes ist als die in Worte gefaßte Beobachtung -, daß der Mensch, je weiter wir zurückgehen in die atlantische, die lemurische Zeit, wesentlich anders ausgesehen hat, auch für seinen eigenen Anblick. Und in der alten lemurischen Zeit hat der Mensch ganz anders ausgesehen, als er sich selber jetzt bekannt ist.
Derjenige Anblick, welchen der Mensch von sich selber gehabt haben würde in der letzten lemurischen Zeit, bietet sich nun dem Menschen in einer gewissen Weise dar, wenn er bach und nach sich jenem hellseherischen Eindruck nähert, der hinführt zu dem, was wir ja schon charakterisiert haben: der hinführt zur Paradieses-Imagination. Ich habe Ihnen zwar gesagt — was richtig ist -, daß dieser Paradieses-Imagination entspricht ein vollständiges Sichdarstellen des Menschenwesens, des physischen Menschenleibes, sozusagen als das Paradies selber. Der Mensch tritt gleichsam auseinander, zerteilt sich; die gegenwärtige Leiblichkeit erscheint ausgebreitet in der Weise, wie es dargestellt worden ist; aber in der damaligen Zeit, das heißt als die Zeit wirklich da war, in welche man gleichsam hellseherisch zurücksieht, wenn man die Paradieseslegende vor sich hat, in dieser Zeit geschah ein Sprung nach vorwärts, ein mächtiger Ruck nach vorwärts. Und durch diesen Ruck, den man auch beobachten kann durch hellseherische Beobachtung, war verhältnismäßig rasch zusammengezogen worden, was man nennen könnte die Ausbreitung der menschlichen Wesenheit zu dem, was dann der Ausgangspunkt des Menschen für die folgende Entwicklung war. Dennoch war unmittelbar nach der Zeit, welcher die Paradieses-Imagination entspricht, der Mensch seiner Gestalt nach recht unähnlich dem, was heute aus diesem Menschen geworden ist. Und im Grunde genommen war dazumal auch alles das, was in den Reichen der Natur den Menschen umgab, recht unähnlich dem, was heute den Menschen in der Natur umgibt.
Ich habe Ihnen ja in den Vorträgen, die ich hier gehalten habe, schon gesagt, daß der Mensch zu dieser Paradieses-Imagination kommen könnte, wenn er während des Schlafzustandes plötzlich für einen Moment hellseherisch würde und gleichsam zurückschaute auf seinen physischen und ätherischen Leib und sich anregen ließe zu der entsprechenden Imagination durch seinen physischen und ätherischen Leib. Im allgemeinen kann man sagen, daß man viel durchgemacht haben muß an esoterischer Entwicklung, wenn man zu dieser Paradieses-Imagination kommen will. Viele Überwindungen, vieles von dem, was dazu gehört, um persönliche Interessen in allgemeine Menschheits- und Welteninteressen zu verwandeln, muß man durchgemacht haben. Da ergibt sich dann, wenn man sozusagen aus dem tiefsten Schlafe - - der Schlaf hat ja seine Grade übergeht zu einem weniger tiefen Schlafe und in diesem weniger tiefen Schlafe hellseherisch wird, da ergibt sich dann das, was sozusagen in der Erdenentwicklung später Realität geworden war: Der Zustand, wie der Mensch, nachdem er den großen Ruck nach vorwärts gemacht hatte, in der alten lemurischen Zeit vorhanden war. Wir können also sagen: Eine Möglichkeit ist vorhanden, diese urferne Vorzeit der Erde zu schauen, dadurch, daß man sich mit seinem Selbst und mit seinem astralischen Leibe vom physischen und ätherischen Leibe trennt und auf diese zurückschaut. Da nun einem - ja man möchte sagen - die Natureinrichtung zu Hilfe kommt, weil man in der Nacht außerhalb seines physischen Leibes ist, so kann man sozusagen diese Natureinrichtung benutzen, und man kann die Trainierung so einrichten, daß man wie aus dem Schlafe erwachend, aber nicht zurückkehrend zum physischen Leibe, wie in einem anderen Bewußtsein erwachend, den physischen Leib dann sieht. Daraus werden Sie entnehmen können, daß diese Anschauung, von der eben jetzt gesprochen wird, die einzige wirkliche Möglichkeit bietet, kennenzulernen, wie der Mensch in urferner Vergangenheit gestaltet war.
Es wird noch lange dauern, aber es wird einmal die Zeit kommen, wo man das Folgende wissen wird, wo man sagen wird: Wie sonderbar waren doch diese Menschen des 19. und des 20. Jahrhunderts! Die haben damals geglaubt, durch äußere Naturforschung die Abstammung des Menschen erkennen zu können, haben geglaubt, Schlußfolgerungen ziehen zu können aus dem, was sich ihnen an tierischen Wesen in ihrem Umkreis auf dem physischen Plan ergibt, Schlußfolgerungen ziehen zu können auf die Ahnenschaft des Menschen. Nun zeigt sich aber der wirklichen Entwicklung der menschlichen Erkenntnis, daß man nur zu einer wirklichen Anschauung über den Ursprung des Menschen auf Erden, über seine alte Form durch hellseherische Beobachtung kommen kann; daß man niemals anders eine Einsicht bekommen kann, wie der Mensch zum Beispiel in der lemurischen Zeit war, als durch hellseherische Beobachtung, als durch ein Zurückschauen, das man angeregt sein läßt von den Eindrücken des eigenen physischen und Ätherleibes. Dann zeigt sich aber - so wird man in der Zukunft wissen -, daß der Mensch niemals ähnlich war irgendeiner der jetzt im 19. oder 20. Jahrhundert um den Menschen herum lebenden Tierformen; denn die Formen, die der Mensch dazumal gehabt hat und die sich seinem hellseherischen Bewußtsein zeigen auf die angedeutete Weise, die unterscheiden sich von alledem, was im 19. Jahrhundert an tierischen Formen den Menschen umgeben kann. Und selbst die Ausdrücke, die wir gebraucht haben - Stier, Löwe und so weiter -, sind ja nur vergleichsweise gebraucht. Besonders grotesk - werden die Menschen der Zukunft sagen - ist es, zu sehen, wie die Menschen des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts ihren Stammbaum zu affenähnlichen Wesen hinaufführen; denn Affen hat es dazumal in der lemurischen Zeit in der Gestalt, wie sie später die Erde betraten, überhaupt noch gar nicht gegeben, diese entstanden erst aus heruntergekommenen und abgefallenen Menschengestalten in viel späterer Zeit.
Erst um die Mitte der atlantischen Zeit sind überhaupt in der Erdenevolution für den rückschauenden Blick solche tierische Wesenheiten aufzufinden, welche man vergleichen kann den heute lebenden Affen. Je weiter man nämlich zurückgeht in der Menschheitsentwicklung, desto mehr erschaut man auch, daß gewissermaßen erhalten geblieben ist für den hellseherischen Blick in der Anschauung unseres Selbstes während des Schlafes, während der Nacht, unsere Gestalt, unsere Form in der Vorzeit. Und so kommt es auch, daß der Mensch, wenn er hinblickt auf sich selber, seine physische Körperlichkeit kennenlernt in einer unendlich viel feineren - man möchte sagen - ätherischen Körperlichkeit, aber nicht im Sinne unseres heutigen Äthers. So erscheint sich da der Mensch. Seine Gestalt ist eher ähnlich einem lebhaften Traumbild als der Gestalt aus Fleisch und Blut, als welche sich der Mensch heute erscheint. So müssen wir uns bekannt machen mit der Vorstellung, daß Selbst und astralischer Leib, wenn sie außerhalb der menschlichen Wesenheit sind, das Haupt kaum sehen. Das wird ganz schattenhaft; es löscht nicht vollständig aus, aber es wird ganz schattenhaft. Dagegen wird deutlicher die übrige Organisation des Menschen. Sie wird auch schattenhaft, aber sie wird so, daß der Mensch sich zwar nicht wie aus Fleisch und Blut vorkommt, aber den deutlichen Eindruck hat, er habe eine mächtigere Organisation.
Es wird Ihnen paradox vorkommen, aber es ist doch wahr: Der Mensch sieht, wenn er hellseherisch sich selbst erblickt im Schlaf, in gewissen Augenblicken so aus, das heißt sein physischer und ätherischer Leib sehen so aus für das Selbst und den astralischen Leib, daß man ganz an die Gestalt des Kentauren erinnert wird. Nur ist dasjenige, was da nach oben als menschliche Fortsetzung am Kentauren erscheint, Menschenantlitz zeigt, eben ganz schattenhaft; das dagegen, was nicht übereinstimmt mit irgendeiner tierischen Form von heute, was aber erinnert in gewisser Beziehung an tierische Formen, das gewinnt Macht, und man sagt sich: Für den geistigen Anblick ist dieses stärker, dichter sogar als die heutige Gestalt aus Fleisch und Blut.
Ich habe diese Dinge schon einmal in einem Vortragszyklus berührt; aber Sie müssen sich natürlich damit bekannt machen, daß alle diese Imaginationen außer der Paradieses-Imagination flüchtig sind und daß man sie von verschiedenen Seiten darstellen kann. Ich könnte ebensogut einen etwas anderen Anblick darstellen, und Sie würden sehen, daß dieser nur einem anderen Entwicklungspunkt entspricht, und dann würden wir auf die Sphinxgestalt kommen. Die aufeinanderfolgende Entwicklung des Menschen stellt sich eben in verschiedenen Anblicken, in verschiedenen Aspekten dar. Viel mehr Richtigkeit, viel mehr Wahrheit haben die mythologischen Bilder, die sogenannten mythologischen Symbole, als die phantastischen Verstandeskombinationen, welche sich die heutige Wissenschaft macht.
Nächtlich also werden wir eine sehr eigentümliche Gestalt. Nun aber wird uns noch etwas anderes klar. Wenn wir diese an eine tierische Wesenheit uns erinnernde Fortsetzung nach unten ins hellseherische Auge fassen, dann lernen wir etwas kennen, wovon wir einen ganz bestimmten Eindruck gewinnen. Und ich habe schon gestern gesagt: Diese Impressionen, diese inneren Erlebnisse sind eigentlich das Wesentliche. Die Bilder sind wichtig, aber die inneren Erlebnisse sind das noch Wichtigere. Man gewinnt einen gewissen Eindruck, so daß man nachher weiß: Das, was dich eigentlich bei Tag zu deinen bloß persönlichen Interessen treibt, was dir bloß persönliche Interessen einimpft in deiner Seele, das kommt von dem, was du nachts als deine gleichsam tierische Fortsetzung siehst. Bei Tag siehst du sie nicht; aber sie ist in dir als Kraft. Das sind die Kräfte, welche dich gewissermaßen hinunterziehen und zu den persönlichen Interessen verführen. - Und wenn man diese Impression immer mehr und mehr ausbildet, dann kommt man dazu, zu erkennen, wer eigentlich in unserer Evolution real Luzifer ist. Je weiter wir nämlich den hellseherischen Blick zurückwenden gegen die Zeit, der die Paradieses-Imagination entspricht, desto schöner wird das Gebilde, das eigentlich erst für die spätere Zeit ans Tierische erinnert. Und wenn wir gar zurückgehen ins Paradiesische, wo die Sache sich so ausnimmt, daß die tierische Fortsetzung des Menschen von dem Menschen selber wie losgerissen und vervielfältigt ist in Stier, Löwe, Adler, da dürfen wir sagen, daß diese Gestalten, die wir mit diesen Namen ansprechen für jene alten Zeiten, uns in gewisser Beziehung auch sein können die Sinnbilder der Schönheit. Immer schöner und schöner werden diese Gestalten. Und gehen wir dann noch weiter zurück in die Zeit, von der wir gestern gesprochen haben, als wir die Impression des Opfers darstellten, dann kommen wir zurück in die Zeit, in welcher uns sozusagen Luzifers wahre Gestalt erscheint in hehrer Schönheit, nur so, wie er sich bewahren wollte in der Evolution vom alten Mond herüber zur Erde.
Aus der Darstellung, die ich gegeben habe in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft», ersehen Sie, daß dem Menschen auf dem Monde der astralische Leib gegeben war. Das, was wir in unserem astralischen Leibe tragen, hat überhaupt auf dem alten Monde eine große Rolle gespielt. Wir haben es aber charakterisiert als die Egoität, als den Egoismus. Auf dem alten Mond mußte dem Menschen eingepflanzt werden dieser Egoismus, und da der Mensch auf dem alten Monde seinen Astralleib empfangen hat, so sitzt eben der Egoismus in seinem Astralleibe; und da Luzifer sein Mondwesen bewahrt hat, hat er sich als die innere Seeleneigenschaft seiner Schönheit in die Erde hereingetragen den Egoismus. Er ist daher auf der einen Seite der Geist der Schönheit, auf der anderen der Geist des Egoismus. Und das, was man sein Unrecht nennen kann, wäre nur dieses, daß er etwas, was sich für den Menschen - wenn ich den Ausdruck gebrauchen darf - auf dem Mond gehörte, nämlich sich zu durchdringen, zu imprägnieren mit Egoismus, daß er das auf die Erde hereinverpflanzt hat. Dadurch aber wurde dem Menschen, wie oftmals erwähnt worden ist, eben gerade die Möglichkeit gegeben, in sich selber, in seinem Inneren zu werden eine in sich abgeschlossene, freie Wesenheit. Das wäre der Mensch niemals geworden, wenn Luzifer die Egoität vom Monde nicht nach der Erde herübergetragen hätte. So lernt man im inneren Erleben Luzifer kennen sozusagen als den nächtlichen Geist. Und es ist mit jener Veränderung, die mit unserem Selbst und mit unserem Astralleibe vorgeht während unserer okkulten Entwicklung, verbunden, daß wir uns fühlen in der Nacht in der Gesellschaft des Luzifer.
Sie werden das vielleicht zunächst, wenn Sie die Vorstellung an der Oberfläche haften lassen, recht fatal finden, daß der Mensch, wenn er hellsichtig wird und einschläft, gewahr wird, daß er während der Nacht in die Gesellschaft des Luzifer kommt. Aber wenn Sie genauer nachdenken, so wird es Ihnen bald aufgehen, daß es gescheiter ist, man lernt Luzifer erkennen, daß es besser ist, wenn man weiß, daß man in seiner Gesellschaft ist, - als wenn man glaubt, er sei nicht da, und man hat ihn nur unsichtbar mit seinen Kräften wirksam in sich. Das hat man ja auch während des Tages. Das Schlimme besteht nicht darin, daß Luzifer an unserer Seite ist, denn wir lernen ihn allmählich erkennen als den Geist, der die Freiheit bringt; sondern das Schlimme besteht darin, daß man ihn nicht kennt. Aber in einer gewissen Weise durften ihn die Menschen, nachdem sie sozusagen seiner ansichtig wurden bei seiner Verführung in der lemurischen Zeit, es durften ihn die Menschen nicht weiter schauen; denn zu jener Urverführung in der lemurischen Zeit wären dann lauter partielle Verführungen getreten. Daher mußte diejenige göttlich-geistige Wesenheit, der es um den Fortschritt des Menschen zu tun war, einen Schleier ziehen vor die Anschauung der Nacht. Damit allerdings ging für den Menschen auch alles das verloren, was er sonst während des Schlafes sehen würde. Und der Schlaf bedeckt dem Menschen die Welt, in der er vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen ist, mit Finsternis. In dem Augenblicke, wo der Schleier weggezogen würde, welcher die Nacht mit Finsternis bedeckt, würden wir eben finden, daß Luzifer an unserer Seite ist. Wäre der Mensch stark genug, würde das nichts schaden; da er aber zunächst nicht stark sein konnte im Sinne der Erdenentwicklung, so mußte dieser Schleier über die nachtschlafende Zeit gezogen werden. Und nach der Urverführung, die in ihrer Folge zurückließ die Möglichkeit der menschlichen Freiheit, sollten nicht die anderen Verführungen durch ein unmittelbares Anschauen Luzifers vom Einschlafen bis zum Aufwachen an den Menschen herantreten können.
Nun gibt es ein Äquivalent. Man kann nämlich nicht Luzifer in der Nacht schauen, wenn man nicht bei Tag seinen Genossen, den Ahriman, schaut. Und so wird für den Menschen, der so weit gekommen ist in der Entwicklung seines Selbstes und seines astralischen Leibes, das Tägliche, das im Wachen die Anschauung der Dinge bewirkt, anders als für den naiven Menschen. Der Mensch lernt erkennen, daß er den Dingen anders gegenübertritt, als er ihnen früher vor seiner Entwicklung des Selbstes und des astralischen Leibes entgegengetreten ist. Der Mensch lernt zunächst gewisse Eindrücke, die er sonst in abstraktem Sinn hinnimmt, als Wirkungen der ahrimanischen Wesenheiten anschauen. So lernt er die Begierde - nicht diejenige, die von innen heraus kommt, die ist luziferisch, aber das, was von außen kommt, was dem Menschen von außen die Begierde erweckt, was also in den Dingen und Wesen um uns herum uns anzieht, so daß wir aus persönlichem Interesse dieser Anziehung folgen, also alles das, was uns von außen zum Genuß verlockt - erkennen als ahrimanische Impression. Dann lernt man erkennen als ahrimanische Impression alles das, was uns von außen Furcht einflößt, was die Furcht in uns erregt von außen. Es sind zwei Pole, möchte ich sagen: Genuß und Furcht. Um uns herum ist die sogenannte materielle und die sogenannte geistige Welt; die materielle Welt sowohl wie die geistige erscheint dem äußeren Tagwachen in der Maja. Die äußere Welt der Sinne erscheint in der Maja, denn die Menschen sehen nicht, daß überall, wo sie von den äußeren Dingen und Wesenheiten zum Genuß erregt werden, Ahriman hervorguckt und den Genuß in der Seele hervorruft. Dasjenige aber, was zum Beispiel die Materialisten leugnen, daß wirkliche Geistigkeit überall in der Materie ist, das bewirkt Furcht; und wenn die Materialisten merken, daß die Furcht ihnen nahekommt aus den Untergründen ihrer Seele, aus dem Astralischen, dann betäuben sie sich, dann ersinnen sie die materialistischen Theorien; und es ist tief wahr, was der Dichter sagt: Den Teufel - nämlich den Ahriman - merkt das Völkchen nie, und wenn er sie schon am Kragen hätte. Wozu werden zum Beispiel Materialistenversammlungen abgehalten? Um den Teufel zu beschwören! Das ist im wörtlichen Sinne wahr; nur wissen es die Leute nicht. Überall, wo heute in der Welt Materialistenversammlungen abgehalten werden und in schönen Theorien vertreten wird, daß es nur Materie gibt, da hat Ahriman das Volk am Kragen, und es gibt keine günstigere Gelegenheit heute, den Teufel zu studieren, als wenn man in materialistische oder monistische Versammlungen geht. So begleitet einen der Ahriman, wenn man eine gewisse Entwicklung durchgemacht hat in seinem astralischen Leib und Selbst, auf Schritt und Tritt. Wenn man anfängt ihn zu schauen, dann kann man sich vor ihm schützen, dann sieht man, daß er aus den Verlockungen des Genusses und aus den Eindrücken der Furcht hervorlugt.
Wiederum mußte wegen der Unreife der Menschen dieser Ahriman verborgen werden, das heißt, es wurde über sein Wesen ein Schleier gebreitet. Das wurde auf etwas andere Weise gemacht als gegenüber dem Luzifer; es wurde so gemacht, daß die Außenwelt dem Menschen in Maja getaucht wurde, indem ihm vorgegaukelt wird, daß statt des Ahriman, der überall hervorlugt, Materie draußen sei in der Welt. Überall an der Stelle, wo der Mensch Materie hinträumt, da ist in Wahrheit Ahriman. Und die größte Verführung ist die materialistische Theorie der Physik, sind die materiellen Atome; denn diese sind nichts anderes in Wirklichkeit als die Kräfte des Ahriman.
Nun ist die Menschheit als Ganzes in einer Entwicklung, in einer Evolution. Und diese Evolution geht so vor sich, daß der Mensch tatsächlich gegen unsere Zukunft hin immer mehr und mehr die Kräfte des Intellektualismus wirklich entwickelt. Dadurch wird äußerlich sein Haupt plastisch eine andere Gestalt annehmen. In einer gewissen Beziehung ist der Anfang zu dieser Entwicklung nach der Intellektualität gegeben worden in der Morgenröte der neueren Naturwissenschaften, so vom 16. Jahrhundert an etwa. Diese intellektuelle Entwicklung, wenn sie sich immer mehr vertiefen wird, wird aber auf das Selbst und auf den astralischen Leib des Menschen einen großen Einfluß ausüben. Nun trat eine Zeit ein, in welcher man noch Traditionen des alten Hellsehens hatte, - sie trafen zusammen gerade mit der Morgenröte der neueren Naturwissenschaften. Es war eben im 16. Jahrhundert; da wußte man, es werde eine Zukunft kommen, in der die Menschen fähig sein würden, wegen der Höherentwicklung ihres Selbstes und ihres astralischen Leibes immer mehr und mehr den Ahriman auch wirklich zu schauen. Dann trat, weil eben in der ersten Zeit die intellektuelle Entwicklung sich mit aller Gewalt sträubte gegen die Wahrnehmung des Geistigen, dann trat eine Verdunkelung ein. Aber das 16. Jahrhundert hat in der Mephistogestalt an der Seite des Faust, die nichts anderes ist als der Ahriman, noch darauf hinweisen können, daß im Grunde genommen Ahriman in bewußter Weise der Zukunft der Menschheitsentwicklung immer gefährlicher und gefährlicher werden wird, daß sozusagen Mephisto immer mehr und mehr eine Art von Verführer des Menschengeschlechtes werden wird. In der ersten Zeit zeigte sich das nur dadurch, daß die Menschen noch eine Erinnerung an die alten geistigen Gestaltungen hatten. Jetzt ist es von der allgemeinen Menschheit vergessen worden; aber in der Zukunft wird sich dem Menschen schon die Erkenntnis aufdrängen, daß er sein ganzes Wachleben hindurch von Ahriman-Mephisto begleitet wird. Dem entspricht aber natürlich auch das Gegenbild, und das ist, daß der Mensch einer Zukunft entgegengeht, welche ihm bei jedem Aufwachen wie einen eben hinhuschenden Traum - - und dann immer deutlicher und deutlicher die Impression geben wird: dein nächtlicher Genosse war der Luzifer.
Sie sehen daraus, daß der Mensch durch die okkulte Entwicklung seines Selbstes und seines astralischen Leibes etwas vorausahnen kann von dem, was in der Zukunft der Menschheit eintreten wird, etwas ahnen kann von der Genossenschaft des Ahriman und des Luzifer. Durch eine bestimmte Gesetzmäßigkeit in der Entwicklung trat an den Menschen zuerst heran während der lemurischen Zeit Luzifer, dann später erst als Folge des luziferischen Einflusses der ahrimanische Einfluß. In der Zukunft wird es umgekehrt sein: Der ahrimanische Einfluß wird zuerst stark sein und dann wird sich ihm der luziferische Einfluß zugesellen. Der ahrimanische Einfluß wird vorzugsweise im Wachzustande wirken, der luziferische Einfluß vorzugsweise im Schlafzustande oder in all den Zuständen, die dem Schlafzustande zwar ähnlich, aber bewußt sind, in immer mehr und mehr sich entwickelnden hellseherischen Zuständen der menschlichen Seele.
So brauchte der Mensch, weil eintreten soll Ahriman in sein äußeres sinnliches Leben im Wachzustand, zuerst den Schutz für den Wachzustand vor dem Ahriman. Solche Schutzimpulse werden viele, viele Jahrhunderte in der Menschheitsentwicklung gegeben, bevor die entsprechende Gefahr eintritt. Während jetzt noch immer nicht das volle Bewußtsein des Ahriman-Mephisto für die allgemeine Menschheit da ist, ist der Schutzimpuls eingetreten im Beginne unserer Zeitenentwicklung in der physischen Erscheinung des Christus in der Erdenentwicklung. Daß der Christus im physischen Leibe einmal in der Erdenentwicklung erschien, das ist die Vorsorge dafür gewesen, daß der Mensch gewappnet sein möge durch die Aufnahme des Christus-Impulses gegen den notwendigen Einfluß, der von Ahriman-Mephisto kommen wird. Daß der Mensch später gewappnet sein werde, wenn der luziferische Einfluß da ist, dagegen wird der Mensch gewappnet durch die Erscheinung des Christus im Ätherleib, von der auch öfters schon gesprochen worden ist, daß sie herannahe. Das ist ein Einfluß, der für ein anderes Bewußtsein kommen wird. Wie der Christus einmal erschienen ist im physischen Leibe und von da aus der Impuls weiter ausgegangen ist, wird der Christus in ätherischer Gestalt merkbar werden schon von diesem 20. Jahrhundert ab für eine erst geringe, dann für eine immer größere Anzahl von Menschen. Und so sehen wir, wie durch eine Art von Äquilibrium, durch eine Art von Sich-die-Waage-Halten der Impulse, die Fortentwicklung des Menschen bewirkt wird. Dasjenige, was in der Versuchungsgeschichte der Evangelien dargestellt wird, das Gegenüberstehen des Christus dem Luzifer und dem Ahriman, in dem einen Evangelium so, in dem anderen so - ich habe das einmal dargestellt -, das ist ein Zeugnis dafür, daß der Mensch durch den Christus-Impuls, durch den Impuls des Mysteriums von Golgatha die richtige Zukunftsentwicklung finden kann. Es gehört zu einer wirklichen Entwicklung des Selbstes und des astralischen Leibes des Menschen, daß der Mensch in diesem veränderten Selbst und astralischen Leibe die Impressionen erhalten kann, wie es mit Ahriman, wie es mit Luzifer, wie es mit dem Christus in der Menschheitsevolution steht; und eine richtige Entwicklung des Selbstes und des astralischen Leibes führt zu einer solchen Erkenntnis der drei die Menschheitsevolution bedingenden Impulse.
Eine richtige Entwicklung schließt aber ein Hinlenken der Egoität des astralischen Leibes zu allgemeinen Menschheits- und Weltinteressen ein. Und wie Gift wirkt es, wenn der Mensch in diejenigen Regionen seiner hellseherischen Beobachtung, wo er nur imprägniert mit allgemeinen Menschheits- und Weltinteressen beobachten sollte, hinaufträgt persönliche Interessen und persönliche Aspirationen. Dann kommt für die hellseherische Beobachtung nicht die Wahrheit zustande, sondern es kommen Imaginationen zustande, welche unwahr, unrichtig sind, welche nur die Widerspiegelungen sind der persönlichen Interessen und der persönlichen Aspirationen. Da kann es zuweilen vorkommen, daß ein Hellseher, der noch ganz erfüllt ist von persönlichen Aspirationen und Interessen, etwas macht wie das Folgende. Ich bekam einen Brief, worin mir jemand schrieb, er müßte mir etwas mitteilen, was ich wissen müsse. Es sei der Christus wiedergeboren in einem physischen Leib; seine Adresse sei London W. soundso. Es sei die Maria wiedergeboren in einem physischen Leibe; ihre Adresse sei die seiner Nichte, Straße soundso. Paulus sei wiedergeboren; das war sein Schwager, der wurde der Adresse nach gezeigt. Und so war denn die ganze Gesellschaft, die in den Evangelien geschildert wird, in jener Verwandtschaft wiedergeboren, und in jenem Briefe waren die einzelnen Adressen angegeben. Diesen Brief könnte ich jedem zeigen; er ist ein Dokument, so grotesk er sich ausnimmt, für das Hinauftragen persönlicher Interessen in jene Höhen, wo Welt- und Menschheitsinteressen walten sollten.
Nun müssen wir uns aber klar sein, daß, wenn jemand in bezug auf seine abstrakten Verstandeserkenntnisse irrt, daß er dann im Grunde genommen mit diesem Irrtum etwas leicht Kontrollierbares hinstellt, etwas, was verhältnismäßig bald aus der Welt zu schaffen ist, obzwar Erkenntnis des Menschen jenen - - man möchte sagen furchtbaren Ursprung hat, auf den gestern hingewiesen worden ist. Weil Erkenntnis des Menschen, wie sie sich einmal auslebt in unserem wachen Tagleben, so verdünnte Impulse enthält, daß jedermann gegenüber diesen verdünnten Impulsen völlige Freiheit entwickeln kann, deshalb braucht sich niemand blenden zu lassen von dem, was des Menschen Intellekt an Torheiten ersinnt, und diejenigen, die sich blenden lassen durch das, was des Menschen Intellekt an Torheiten ersinnt, die werden in verhältnismäßig kurzer Zeit geheilt werden können.
Nehmen wir aber an, es kommt in der hellseherischen Betrachtung auf die geschilderte Weise zu unrichtigen Imaginationen, dann wirken diese unrichtigen Imaginationen in einer gewissen Weise seelisch ansteckend; sie stecken so an, daß sie gerade den gesunden Menschenverstand und die Intellektualität auslöschen. Sie schaden also in einem ganz anders starken Maße als die bloß intellektuellen Torheiten. Wenn man daher versucht, alles das, was auch auf dem Felde des Okkultismus gewonnen wird, zu durchdringen mit den Formen des gesunden Menschenverstandes, so tut man recht. Wenn man die Imagination ohne weiteres gibt und sie nicht in dieser Weise zu rechtfertigen versucht, wie wir das gerade in diesem Vortragszyklus versuchen - und man wird nur solche Imaginationen, welche zu Unrecht bestehen, als bloße Imaginationen geben -, dann übertölpelt man gerade dasjenige im anderen, was sich regen sollte zur Zurückweisung solcher Imaginationen. Und es könnte immerhin sein, daß - während der, welcher Verstandestorheiten verbreitet, Kritik herausfordert, leicht Kritik herausfordert - jemand, der falsche Imaginationen verbreitet, mit diesen den anderen, die an ihn glauben, gerade die Möglichkeit der Kritik nimmt, das heißt, sie blind macht gegen die notwendige Ablehnung der betreffenden Imaginationen. Wir können daraus ersehen, wie eigentlich in dem Augenblick, wo die Erkenntnis über das hinausgeht, was den Menschen im natürlichen Gang der Entwicklung zugedacht ist, wie in dem Augenblick, wo der Mensch zu hellseherischen Erkenntnissen sich erhebt, es unbedingt notwendig ist, daß seine Entwicklung eben nach den allgemeinen Menschheits- und Welteninteressen zu geht. Das ist etwas, was jederzeit im wahren Okkultismus anerkannt werden wird. Und das Gegenteil behaupten, daß es einen gesunden Eintritt in die geistigen Welten, also eine gesunde Entwicklung des astralischen Leibes und des Selbstes geben könnte unabhängig von der Erweiterung der menschlichen Interessen zu selbstlosen Welt- und Menschheitsinteressen, die gegenteilige Behauptung also von derjenigen, die hier gemacht worden ist, könnte nur entspringen einer den Okkultismus mit Frivolität durchdringenden Gesinnung. Dies müssen wir als wichtig ins Auge fassen, wenn wir von den Veränderungen sprechen, welche mit dem astralischen Menschen und dem Selbst bei der höheren spirituellen Entwicklung vor sich gehen.
Tenth Lecture
I once knew a poet who has long since passed away. In the second half of the 1880s, he once told me that he was very afraid of the future of humanity—and I emphasize that although the expression of his fear was perhaps somewhat paradoxical, he was completely serious about this fear itself and about the direction his paradoxical expression was intended to point to. Indeed, he was inclined toward a certain pessimism because he had this fear. He said that it seemed to him as if the future development of humanity would be such that people would increasingly develop their minds, and that everything else about them would wither away in comparison. He was, as I said, bitterly serious about this idea, and he expressed it paradoxically: he feared that the rational, intellectual nature of man would one day become so dominant that the head would be like a large ball and that people would then roll around like balls on the earth. The man was bitterly serious about this fear of his, for he thought that we live in an age of intellectualism, of the development of intellectual powers that find their expression in the head, and that these powers of intelligence will increase more and more, so that man is heading toward a future that inspires little longing.
Now, this is of course a completely paradoxical statement, and one could say in a certain sense that the fear that inspired his pessimism is also paradoxical in a certain sense. But as is so often the case with the intellect, so too in this case: the human intellect has a tendency to degenerate, to draw conclusions when presented with some observation. This can be observed both in external, exoteric life and in the field of theosophical movement. In external, exoteric life, one need only look around a little to notice that the experiences, the real observations that human beings have made over the course of time, have always given rise to a vast number of theories and hypotheses. How many hypotheses have sunk into the abyss, so to speak, as worthless in the course of human development! In the anthroposophical-occult realm, one can observe that someone who has undergone occult training, who therefore has clairvoyant powers in a certain sense, communicates this or that from their actual clairvoyant observations, and then the theorists come along and invent all kinds of schemes and theories: things are elaborated. Often the observation is small, but the schemes and theories built upon it encompass entire worlds. That is always the problem, that such a tendency of the intellect is present. We find this tendency in a somewhat subtle form in the famous book Esoteric Buddhism by Sinnett. This book is based on a number of real occult facts; these are found in the middle sections of the book and refer to the middle stage of the Earth's development. But then a schematism is built on top of this, consisting of rounds and races, and this rolls and tumbles around in more or less the same way. These are conclusions, theories that have been made from the few real, factual statements that can also be found in this book. And so it was, so to speak, with my poet. He had a kind of unconscious, instinctive imagination in the background that told him something that is true, one might say, a plumb line of truth, and he made one or even many hundredweight out of it. Such things often happen in the world. What is the truth of the matter?
The truth is that, in fact, for our present age, for our present earthly cycle, man is undergoing a certain evolution with regard to his head, that the formation of the head, the entire development of the head, will undergo changes in the future. If we look far into the future of the earth, we must indeed imagine that, for example, the formation of the human forehead, the human nose, and the human jaw will have undergone significant changes, that everything else that humans carry as earthly organisms will, in a certain sense, have receded; but of course the relationship of the evolving head to the rest of the body during the Earth period will never be that of a rolling ball. So, to a very, very small extent, this is definitely perceptible. In contrast, in earlier epochs of the Earth's development, before the middle of the Atlantean epoch, the rest of the human organism was changeable, in a kind of formation. Relatively little — relatively little — has changed in the human organism since the middle of the Atlantean epoch, except for the head; whereas before the Atlantean epoch, the human being underwent great changes in relation to the rest of his organism. From this you will be able to draw the conclusion — which is now correct, because it is nothing more than observation put into words — that the further back we go into the Atlantean and Lemurian epochs, the more different human beings looked, even to themselves. And in the ancient Lemurian epoch, human beings looked completely different from how they know themselves now.
The view that human beings would have had of themselves in the last Lemurian period is now presented to them in a certain way when they approach that clairvoyant impression which leads to what we have already characterized: which leads to the Paradise imagination. I have told you — and rightly so — that this paradise imagination corresponds to a complete representation of the human being, of the physical human body, as it were, as paradise itself. The human being, as it were, falls apart, divides itself; the present physical body appears spread out in the manner in which it has been described; but at that time, that is, when the time was really there, into which one looks back clairvoyantly, as it were, when one has the Paradise legend before one, at that time a leap forward took place, a powerful jolt forward. And through this jolt, which can also be observed through clairvoyant observation, what could be called the expansion of the human being into what was then the starting point for human development was relatively quickly contracted. Nevertheless, immediately after the time corresponding to the Paradise imagination, human beings were quite unlike what they have become today. And basically, everything that surrounded humans in the realms of nature at that time was quite unlike what surrounds humans in nature today.
I have already told you in the lectures I have given here that human beings could arrive at this Paradise imagination if, during the state of sleep, they suddenly became clairvoyant for a moment and looked back, as it were, upon their physical and etheric bodies and allowed themselves to be inspired to the corresponding imagination through their physical and etheric bodies. In general, it can be said that one must have gone through a great deal of esoteric development if one wants to arrive at this paradise imagination. One must have overcome many obstacles and undergone much of what is necessary to transform personal interests into general interests in humanity and the world. Then, when one passes, so to speak, from the deepest sleep—sleep has its degrees—into a less deep sleep and becomes clairvoyant in this less deep sleep, then what later became reality in the Earth's development emerges: the state in which human beings existed in the ancient Lemurian epoch after they had made the great leap forward. We can therefore say that it is possible to see this ancient past of the earth by separating oneself with one's self and one's astral body from the physical and etheric bodies and looking back on them. Since nature itself comes to our aid, so to speak, because we are outside our physical body at night, we can use this natural facility and train ourselves so that we see our physical body as if we were awakening from sleep, but without returning to the physical body, as if we were awakening in a different state of consciousness. From this you will be able to see that this view, which has just been discussed, offers the only real possibility of learning how human beings were formed in the distant past.
It will take a long time, but the time will come when people will know the following, when they will say: How strange were those people of the 19th and 20th centuries! They believed that they could discover the origin of man through external natural science, that they could draw conclusions about the ancestry of man from what they observed in the animal world around them on the physical plane. Now, however, the real development of human knowledge shows that one can only arrive at a true view of the origin of man on earth, of his ancient form, through clairvoyant observation; that one can never gain insight into what man was like in the Lemurian epoch, for example, except through clairvoyant observation, through looking back, by allowing oneself to be stimulated by the impressions of one's own physical and etheric bodies. But then it will become clear—as we will know in the future—that human beings were never similar to any of the animal forms living around them in the 19th or 20th centuries; for the forms that humans had at that time and which reveal themselves to clairvoyant consciousness in the manner indicated, differ from everything that can surround humans in the 19th century in terms of animal forms. And even the expressions we have used — bull, lion, and so on — are only used comparatively. It will be particularly grotesque, future humans will say, to see how the people of the 19th and 20th centuries trace their family tree back to ape-like beings; for apes did not exist at all in the Lemurian epoch in the form in which they later entered the earth; they only arose from degenerate and fallen human forms in a much later period.
It was not until the middle of the Atlantean epoch that such animal beings, comparable to the apes living today, can be found in the evolution of the Earth when viewed retrospectively. The further back one goes in human development, the more one sees that, in a sense, our form in ancient times has been preserved for the clairvoyant gaze in the perception of our self during sleep, during the night. And so it is that when human beings look at themselves, they come to know their physical body in an infinitely more refined—one might say ethereal—form, but not in the sense of our present-day ether. This is how human beings appear to themselves. Their form is more like a vivid dream image than the form of flesh and blood in which human beings appear today. So we must familiarize ourselves with the idea that when the self and the astral body are outside the human being, they can hardly see the head. This becomes very shadowy; it does not disappear completely, but it becomes very shadowy. In contrast, the rest of the human organization becomes clearer. It also becomes shadowy, but in such a way that the human being does not feel as if they are made of flesh and blood, but has the distinct impression that they have a more powerful organization.
It will seem paradoxical to you, but it is nevertheless true: when a person sees himself clairvoyantly in sleep, at certain moments he looks like this, that is, his physical and etheric bodies appear to the self and the astral body in such a way that one is completely reminded of the figure of the centaur. Only what appears above as the human continuation of the centaur, showing a human face, is completely shadowy; but what does not correspond to any animal form of today, but in a certain way is reminiscent of animal forms, gains power, and one says to oneself: To the spiritual eye, this is stronger, even denser than the present form of flesh and blood.
I have already touched on these things in a series of lectures; but you must of course be aware that all these imaginings, except for the imagination of paradise, are fleeting and can be presented from different angles. I could just as well present a slightly different view, and you would see that it corresponds only to a different point in development, and then we would arrive at the sphinx figure. The successive development of the human being presents itself in different views, in different aspects. The mythological images, the so-called mythological symbols, have much more accuracy, much more truth than the fantastic combinations of the intellect that modern science makes.
At night, therefore, we take on a very peculiar form. But now something else becomes clear to us. When we perceive this continuation downward, reminiscent of an animal being, with our clairvoyant eye, we learn something that gives us a very definite impression. And I already said yesterday: these impressions, these inner experiences, are actually the essential thing. The images are important, but the inner experiences are even more important. One gains a certain impression, so that afterwards one knows: what actually drives you during the day to your purely personal interests, what instills purely personal interests in your soul, comes from what you see at night as your animal continuation, so to speak. You do not see it during the day, but it is within you as a force. These are the forces that, in a sense, pull you down and tempt you toward your personal interests. And when you develop this impression more and more, you come to recognize who Lucifer really is in our evolution. For the further we turn our clairvoyant gaze back to the time that corresponds to the Paradise imagination, the more beautiful becomes the structure that actually only reminds us of the animal realm in later times. And if we go back to paradise, where things appear as if the animal continuation of man has been torn away from man himself and multiplied in the bull, the lion, and the eagle, then we can say that these figures, which we address with these names for those ancient times, can in a certain sense also be symbols of beauty for us. These figures become more and more beautiful. And if we go back even further in time, to the time we spoke of yesterday when we described the impression of sacrifice, then we come back to the time when, so to speak, Lucifer's true form appears to us in sublime beauty, just as he wanted to preserve himself in the evolution from the old moon to the earth.
From the description I gave in my “Secret Science,” you can see that humans on the Moon were given an astral body. What we carry in our astral body played a major role on the old Moon. However, we have characterized it as egoism, as selfishness. This egoism had to be implanted in man on the old moon, and since man received his astral body on the old moon, egoism is seated in his astral body; and since Lucifer preserved his lunar nature, he carried egoism into the earth as the inner soul quality of his beauty. He is therefore, on the one hand, the spirit of beauty and, on the other, the spirit of egoism. And what one might call his wrongdoing would be only this: that he took something that belonged to man on the moon, if I may use the expression, namely, to permeate himself with egoism, and implanted it on Earth. But this gave human beings, as has often been mentioned, the very possibility of becoming within themselves, in their inner being, a self-contained, free entity. Human beings would never have become this if Lucifer had not brought egoism from the moon to the earth. Thus, in inner experience, we come to know Lucifer, so to speak, as the spirit of the night. And it is connected with the change that takes place in our self and in our astral body during our occult development that we feel ourselves in the company of Lucifer at night.
At first, if you allow the idea to remain on the surface, you may find it quite fatal that when a person becomes clairvoyant and falls asleep, he becomes aware that during the night he enters the company of Lucifer. But if you think about it more carefully, you will soon realize that it is wiser to learn to recognize Lucifer, that it is better to know that you are in his company than to believe that he is not there and that you only have his invisible forces working within you. After all, that is also the case during the day. The bad thing is not that Lucifer is at our side, because we gradually learn to recognize him as the spirit that brings freedom; the bad thing is that we do not know him. But in a certain sense, after they had, so to speak, seen him during his seduction in the Lemurian epoch, human beings were not allowed to see him any further; for then the original seduction in the Lemurian epoch would have been followed by a series of partial seductions. Therefore, the divine-spiritual Being who was concerned with the progress of human beings had to draw a veil over the vision of the night. However, this meant that human beings lost everything that they would otherwise see during sleep. And sleep covers the world in which human beings exist from the moment they fall asleep until they wake up with darkness. The moment the veil covering the night with darkness were to be drawn away, we would find Lucifer at our side. If humans were strong enough, this would not harm them; but since they could not initially be strong in the sense of earthly development, this veil had to be drawn over the nighttime hours of sleep. And after the original temptation, which left behind the possibility of human freedom, other temptations should not be able to approach humans through a direct view of Lucifer from the moment of falling asleep until the moment of waking up.
Now there is an equivalent. For one cannot see Lucifer at night unless one sees his companion, Ahriman, during the day. And so, for the human being who has come so far in the development of his self and his astral body, the daily life that causes the perception of things in the waking state is different from that of the naive human being. Human beings learn to recognize that they approach things differently than they did before the development of their self and astral body. Human beings first learn to view certain impressions, which they otherwise accept in an abstract sense, as the effects of Ahrimanic beings. In this way, they learn to recognize desire—not the desire that comes from within, which is Luciferic, but that which comes from outside, which awakens desire in human beings from outside, that which attracts us in the things and beings around us, so that we follow this attraction out of personal interest, that is, everything that tempts us from outside to enjoy—as an Ahrimanic impression. Then we learn to recognize as an Ahrimanic impression everything that instills fear in us from outside, everything that arouses fear in us from outside. There are two poles, I would say: pleasure and fear. Around us is the so-called material world and the so-called spiritual world; both the material world and the spiritual world appear to our outer waking consciousness in Maya. The outer world of the senses appears in Maya, for human beings do not see that wherever they are aroused to enjoyment by external things and beings, Ahriman peeks out and evokes enjoyment in the soul. But what materialists deny, for example, that real spirituality is everywhere in matter, causes fear; and when materialists realize that fear is approaching them from the depths of their souls, from the astral, they numb themselves, they devise materialistic theories; and it is deeply true what the poet says: The devil—namely Ahriman—is never noticed by the little people, even when he has them by the throat. Why, for example, are materialist gatherings held? To conjure up the devil! This is literally true; only people do not know it. Wherever materialist gatherings are held in the world today, and beautiful theories are put forward that only matter exists, Ahriman has the people by the throat, and there is no better opportunity today to study the devil than by attending materialistic or monistic gatherings. Thus, once you have undergone a certain development in your astral body and self, Ahriman accompanies you at every step. When you begin to see him, you can protect yourself from him, for then you see that he peeks out from the temptations of pleasure and the impressions of fear.
Again, because of the immaturity of human beings, this Ahriman had to be hidden, that is, a veil was spread over his nature. This was done in a slightly different way than with Lucifer; it was done in such a way that the outer world was immersed in Maya, by making human beings believe that instead of Ahriman peering out everywhere, there was matter out there in the world. Wherever human beings dream of matter, there is in truth Ahriman. And the greatest seduction is the materialistic theory of physics, the material atoms; for these are in reality nothing other than the forces of Ahriman.
Now humanity as a whole is in a state of development, of evolution. And this evolution proceeds in such a way that human beings are actually developing the forces of intellectualism more and more toward our future. As a result, their heads will take on a different shape. In a certain sense, the beginning of this development toward intellectualism was given in the dawn of the modern natural sciences, starting around the 16th century. However, as this intellectual development deepens, it will exert a great influence on the self and on the astral body of the human being. Now a time came when the traditions of ancient clairvoyance still existed, and these coincided with the dawn of the modern natural sciences. It was precisely in the 16th century that people knew a future would come in which human beings would be able, through the higher development of their self and their astral body, to see Ahriman more and more clearly. Then, because in the early days intellectual development resisted the perception of the spiritual with all its might, a period of darkness set in. But the 16th century, in the figure of Mephisto at Faust's side, who is nothing other than Ahriman, was still able to point out that, fundamentally, Ahriman will consciously become more and more dangerous to the future of human development, that Mephisto, so to speak, will increasingly become a kind of seducer of the human race. In the early days, this was only evident in that people still had a memory of the old spiritual forms. Now it has been forgotten by humanity in general; but in the future, the realization will dawn on people that they are accompanied by Ahriman-Mephisto throughout their entire waking life. Of course, there is also a counter-image to this, which is that human beings are heading toward a future that will appear to them at every awakening like a fleeting dream—and then give them the impression, more and more clearly, that their nighttime companion was Lucifer.
You can see from this that through the occult development of their self and their astral body, human beings can anticipate something of what will happen in the future of humanity, can sense something of the cooperation between Ahriman and Lucifer. Through a certain lawfulness in development, Lucifer first approached humanity during the Lemurian epoch, and only later, as a consequence of the Luciferic influence, did the Ahrimanic influence appear. In the future, it will be the reverse: the Ahrimanic influence will be strong at first, and then the Luciferic influence will join it. The Ahrimanic influence will act primarily in the waking state, the Luciferic influence primarily in the sleeping state or in all states that are similar to the sleeping state but conscious, in the increasingly developing clairvoyant states of the human soul.
Thus, because Ahriman is to enter into his outer sensory life in the waking state, human beings first needed protection for the waking state against Ahriman. Such protective impulses were given many, many centuries in the evolution of humanity before the corresponding danger arose. While the full consciousness of Ahriman-Mephisto is still not present for humanity as a whole, the protective impulse entered into physical appearance at the beginning of our era with the appearance of Christ in the Earth's evolution. The fact that Christ once appeared in the physical body during Earth's development was a precautionary measure to ensure that human beings would be armed against the inevitable influence of Ahriman-Mephisto through their acceptance of the Christ impulse. That human beings will later be armed when the Luciferic influence is present is ensured by the appearance of Christ in the etheric body, which has already been mentioned several times as approaching. This is an influence that will bring about a different consciousness. Just as Christ once appeared in the physical body and from there the impulse spread out, so Christ will become perceptible in etheric form already from this 20th century onwards, first for a small number of people, then for an ever-increasing number. And so we see how, through a kind of equilibrium, through a kind of balancing of impulses, the further development of the human being is brought about. What is depicted in the story of the temptations in the Gospels, the confrontation between Christ and Lucifer and Ahriman, in one Gospel in one way, in another in another way — I have described this once — is testimony to the fact that human beings can find the right path for their future development through the Christ impulse, through the impulse of the mystery of Golgotha. It is part of the real development of the self and the astral body of the human being that the human being can receive impressions in this changed self and astral body about how Ahriman, Lucifer, and Christ stand in human evolution; and a right development of the self and the astral body leads to such a recognition of the three impulses that condition human evolution.
However, a proper development includes directing the egoity of the astral body toward general human and world interests. And it has a poisonous effect when human beings carry personal interests and personal aspirations into those regions of their clairvoyant observation where they should only observe with an impregnation of general human and world interests. Then, instead of truth, imagination arises, which is untrue and incorrect, which is only the reflection of personal interests and personal aspirations. It can sometimes happen that a clairvoyant who is still completely filled with personal aspirations and interests does something like the following. I received a letter in which someone wrote that they had something to tell me that I needed to know. They said that Christ had been reborn in a physical body; his address was London W. so-and-so. They said that Mary had been reborn in a physical body; her address was that of his niece, street so-and-so. Paul had been reborn; that was his brother-in-law, who was shown according to the address. And so the entire community described in the Gospels was reborn in that family, and the individual addresses were given in that letter. I could show this letter to anyone; as grotesque as it may seem, it is a document that elevates personal interests to those heights where world and human interests should reign.
Now we must be clear that when someone errs in relation to their abstract intellectual knowledge, they are essentially presenting something that is easily controllable, something that can be eliminated relatively quickly, even though human knowledge has that—one might say terrible—origin that was pointed out yesterday. Because human knowledge, as it is lived out in our waking daily life, contains such diluted impulses that everyone can develop complete freedom in relation to these diluted impulses, no one needs to be blinded by the follies that the human intellect conceives, and those who allow themselves to be blinded by the follies that the human intellect conceives can be healed in a relatively short time.
But let us assume that, in clairvoyant observation, incorrect imaginations arise in the manner described. Then these incorrect imaginations have a certain kind of spiritual contagious effect; they are so contagious that they destroy healthy common sense and intellectuality. They are therefore harmful to a much greater extent than mere intellectual follies. It is therefore right to try to permeate everything gained in the field of occultism with the forms of common sense. If one accepts imagination without question and does not attempt to justify it in the way we are trying to do in this lecture series — and one will then only accept as mere imagination those imaginations that are unjustified — then one is fooling precisely that part of the other person that should be stirring to reject such imaginations. And it could well be that while those who spread intellectual follies easily provoke criticism, those who spread false imaginations deprive others who believe in them of the very possibility of criticism, that is, they blind them to the necessary rejection of the imaginations in question. We can see from this how, at the moment when knowledge goes beyond what is intended for human beings in the natural course of development, at the moment when human beings rise to clairvoyant knowledge, it is absolutely necessary that their development proceed in accordance with the general interests of humanity and the world. This is something that will always be recognized in true occultism. To assert the opposite, that there could be a healthy entry into the spiritual worlds, that is, a healthy development of the astral body and the self, independent of the expansion of human interests to selfless world and human interests, the opposite assertion to the one made here, could only spring from a mindset permeated with frivolity toward occultism. We must bear this in mind as important when we speak of the changes that take place in the astral human being and the self during higher spiritual development.