On the Fifth Gospel
GA 148
10 February 1914, Berlin
Lecture IX
(The German transcript has been slightly abbreviated)
The information revealed by the “Fifth Gospel” sheds new light upon the great steps taken, as it were in the whole Cosmos, in preparation for the Mystery of Golgotha. Spiritual Science conceives the Mystery of Golgotha to be a kind of interim culmination of other happenings with which it is connected in the streams of world-realities.
We have heard that the Jesus boys were born in preparation for the Mystery of Golgotha. One of them was the “Solomon Jesus Child” who bore within him the Ego of Zarathustra. The age of the two boys was approximately the same and when they were twelve years old, the Zarathustra-Ego passed over into the body of the other Jesus boy who had descended from the “Nathan line” of the House of David. Then—from the source of the Fifth Gospel—it was possible to give details of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. His three bodily sheaths were those of the Nathan Jesus Child and the Zarathustra-Ego was present these three sheaths until Jesus of Nazareth reached his thirtieth year. You have also heard of the conversation with the mother which then took place and how, as he poured his very Self—his Ego—into the words, the Zarathustra-Ego departed from the bodily sheaths. Then, at the Baptism by John in the Jordan, the Christ Being descended into the threefold bodily sheaths of Jesus of Nazareth.
This conception of the Being Christ Jesus gives us an infinitely deeper and grander impression than is possible to those who draw only upon the sources of hitherto existing knowledge and the information contained in the Gospels.
Thee Event which, together with the “Crucifixion” and the “Resurrection” we call the Mystery of Golgotha, followed three other Events as a kind of culmination.
One of these other Events had taken place in very ancient Lemurian times; the second in the early period of the Atlantean epoch, and the third towards its end. These first three Events, however, transpired in the spiritual worlds, not on the physical plane. We have therefore to turn our eyes to four Events, of which the last only—the Mystery of Golgotha itself—took place on the physical plane. The three others were Events in the spiritual world, as it were in preparation for the fourth.
I have told you that the altogether unique character of the Being we know as the Nathan Jesus was revealed in that immediately after his birth he spoke certain words—albeit in a language unintelligible to everyone except his mother, who in her heart and feeling was able to discern what the words implied. It must be realised that the Nathan Jesus boy was not an ordinary human being; unlike the Solomon Jesus boy who bore within him the Zarathustra-Ego and, as other human beings, had passed through many earthly lives, the Nathan Jesus boy had no earthly incarnations behind him for the whole of his previous existence had been spent in the spiritual worlds.
I have spoken of this in earlier lectures by saying that when, from the Lemurian epoch onwards, human souls were coming down to earthly incarnations, something was as it were kept back in the spiritual worlds and incarnated for the first time in the Nathan Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth therefore was not the bearer of a human Ego in the ordinary sense, for the “human Ego” passes on from one earthly incarnation to another, whereas the previous existence of this Being had been spent in the spiritual worlds. And only the Initiates in the ancient Mysteries who were able to see into the spiritual worlds knew that this Being—who would eventually be born as the Nathan Jesus and become the bearer of the Christ—had been connected with certain previous Events in the spiritual worlds. In order to understand the nature of these Events we must remind ourselves of the following.
Most of you will remember that in lectures on Anthroposophy given here some years ago, I spoke of the human senses. I emphasised then that in reality man possesses twelve senses—the five usually enumerated forming only a part of these twelve. We will not enter into this in greater detail to-day but speak of something else, namely, that the senses of man, the senses in the physical body, would have suffered a fate portending ill for human nature had not the first Christ Event taken place in the spiritual worlds during the epoch of ancient Lemuria in preparation for the Mystery of Golgotha. In the Lemurian epoch the foundations of the senses were actually present in man's bodily structure. But we know, too, that in this same epoch the Luciferic powers began to operate in human evolution and influenced the whole organism of man. If in the Lemurian epoch nothing else had happened than the descent of man to earthly incarnations and the onset of the Luciferic influence, the senses would not have developed into the organs they are to-day. They would have been hypersensitive, over-sensitive. We should have gone about the world with ‘untempered’ senses. The colour red, for instance would have affected the eye so strongly as to cause actual suffering; other impressions too would have caused pain to the senses. For example: the eye would have felt as if it were being drawn away, sucked away by the colour blue. And it would have been the same in all the other senses. The human being would have been obliged to go about the world with senses over-susceptible to pain or to immoderate, and therefore unhealthy, sensations of pleasure. Sensory activity would have been stronger and more intense than is healthy; the senses would have been affected by every single impression coming from the world outside. This would have been the outcome of the Luciferic influence, and it was averted from humanity not by anything that transpired in the physical world but by the first of the three Events which took place in preparation for the Mystery of Golgotha. In the Lemurian epoch, the same Christ Being Who later on, at the Baptism in the Jordan, came down into the body of Jesus of Nazareth, united at that time with a being still living in the spiritual world—the being subsequently born as “Nathan Jesus boy.”
If we say of the Event in Palestine that the Christ Being then united with a body, of this first Event we must say that in the spiritual world, during the Lemurian epoch, He “ensouled” (verseelte sich) a Being who in a later epoch came down to the Earth as the Nathan Jesus boy.
Thus there was present in the spiritual worlds a Being of soul-and-spirit Who through this union with the soul of the later Jesus of Nazareth and through all the consequences of this Deed, averted the calamity that would have befallen the human senses. It was as though this Being radiated His light from the spiritual worlds upon humanity in order that the senses might be saved from the suffering attendant upon over-sensitiveness. The first Event in preparation for the Mystery of Golgotha was for the well-being and salvation of the senses. The fact that we can go about the world with senses functioning as they now do, is due to this first Christ Event.
A second Event took place towards the beginning of the Atlantean epoch. The same being—the later Jesus of Nazareth—was again “ensouled” by the Christ Being, with the result that another evil was averted from human nature. Although the first Christ Event had brought salvation to the senses, the Luciferic and, later on, the Ahrimanic influences had so affected the seven life-organs of man that if the second Event had not taken place, human life in the world could not have been as it now is; man would have vacillated between wild, inordinate desire (in certain limits this is what we not call ‘sympathy’) and utter disgust for what he imbibes through his life-organs, for his means of nourishment. In the lectures on “anthroposophy” I also spoke of these seven life-organs. In the physical body they are vesicular organs, but what underlies them is actually a certain formation of the etheric body. Moreover for everything that found its way to his organs of breathing, too, man would either have felt inordinate desire or deepest loathing. Therefore the seven life-organs too would have become over-active as a result of the influence of Lucifer and Ahriman. The second Christ Event took place—again in the supersensible worlds. And this Event brought ‘moderation’ into the life-organs, enabled them to function with a certain restraint. Just as our senses would never have been able to face the world “in wisdom” if the first Christ Event had not taken place in the Lemurian epoch, so our life-organs could never have functioned with temperance and moderation if the second Christ Event had not transpired at the beginning of the Atlantean epoch.
But man was faced by yet another evil. This third evil threatened the astral body, in connection with thinking, feeling and willing and their due fields of activity. A certain harmony is maintained to-day in man's thinking, feeling and willing, and when this harmony is upset, the healthy life of the soul is disturbed. When thinking, feeling and willing do not interact in the right way, a man falls into conditions of extreme hypochondria, melancholy or actual insanity. As a result of the Luciferic and Ahrimanic influence, therefore, men's thinking, feeling and willing would have lapsed into utter disorder if, towards the end of the Atlantean epoch, the third Christ Event had not taken place. Once again the Christ Being united with the “Nathan-Jesus soul” in the supersensible worlds, bringing order and harmony into the soul-powers of thinking, feeling and willing.
These three Events all worked upon man from the spiritual worlds; they were not Events of the physical plane. But memories of the third Event in particular, have been well preserved in myths and legends; and as in many other cases, spiritual knowledge leads us to a much deeper understanding of the wisdom they contain.
We are all familiar with imagery often used for the portrayal of supersensible beings; the Archangel Michael, or St. George overcoming the Dragon, vanquishing death. This is a pictorial presentation of the third Christ Event: St. George or the Archangel Michael is inspired by the Christ Being; and the ‘Conquest of the Dragon’ indicates the overcoming of those elements in the desire-nature of man which would bring confusion and disorder into thinking, feeling and willing.
There is deep meaning in these pictures; they have not been created for the intellect but for the feeling, in order that what eludes intellectual understanding may be presented to the human soul in the form of visible symbols.
In earlier lectures we have heard how in its world of Gods and Spirit-Beings, Greek culture preserved the shadow-images of the Divine Spiritual Beings who in the Atlantean epoch had been present, in all their reality, in the sphere immediately above the world of men. The Greeks had preserved definite consciousness of the third Christ Event, the Event that is portrayed elsewhere as St. George or the Archangel Michael overthrowing the Dragon.—In their Apollo the Greeks portrayed the Christ Being permeating the soul of the later Jesus boy. And we may say with truth that in ancient Greece, St. George and the Dragon are real beings, cosmic beings. The Greeks had their Castalian fountain on Parnassos; vapours arose from a gorge in the earth and these vapours, winding around the mountain like snakes, were a picture of those wild tumultuous passions of men which cast thinking, feeling and willing into confusion and disorder. At the place—it was the abode of Python—where these curling, snake-like vapours issued from the gorge, the Greeks erected the sanctuary of the Pythian Oracle. Sitting there on her tripod above the gorge, she was transported by the rising vapours into a state of visionary consciousness and her utterances were conceived to by the words of Apollo himself. Those who sought advice addressed themselves to the Pythian Oracle and received it from Apollo through her mouth.
In Greece, therefore, Apollo was a real and living Being. We know now that he was the Being who was ensouled by the Christ and later on became the Nathan Jesus boy. This being was known to the Greeks as “Apollo.” He eliminates the effects of the Luciferic and Ahrimanic influences from what rises out of the earth into the soul of the Pythian Oracle. And because the Luciferic and Ahrimanic influences no longer creep into her soul with the vapours which had been purified by Apollo, the forces issuing from her no longer bring thinking, feeling and willing into confusion but into order and harmony on the Earth.
And so we perceive in the figure of Apollo the idea that the God whom we in later time call Christ sent His influence into the thinking, feeling and willing of men.—He was the God Who sacrificed Himself at that time by uniting with the soul of the later Nathan Jesus, in order that harmony and order might prevail in the thinking, feeling and willing of the human soul, instead of the confusion wrought by the influence of Lucifer and Ahriman.
In the supersensible worlds, therefore, three Christ Events take place in preparation for the Event of Golgotha.
What was actually achieved by this Event? What is it that would have fallen into chaos and disorder if the Event of Golgotha had not taken place?
In the Fourth post-Atlantean epoch, the Greco-Latin epoch, humanity was ready for the development of the ‘I’. The first peoples who were ready for this were those who inhabited the lands stretching from Western Asia across Southern Europe and into Middle Europe. The encounter between the Roman peoples and the Germanic peoples in Middle and Southern Europe was to give a strong impetus to this development of Ego-consciousness. The ‘I’, the Ego, was to develop in the fourth post-Atlantean epoch—but something would have gone wrong with this development had not the Mystery of Golgotha taken place in that same epoch. Just as the senses would have been impaired in the Lemurian epoch if the first Christ Event had not taken place; just as irregularity would have crept into the development of the seven life-organs if the second Christ Event had not taken place at the beginning of the Atlantean epoch; just as thinking, feeling and willing in man's life of soul would have been cast into disorder if the third Christ Event had not taken place towards the end of the Atlantean epoch... so, too it would have been with the development of the ‘I’, if the fourth Christ Event—the Mystery of Golgotha—had not taken place in the Greco-Latin epoch. For as we know, in this fourth post-Atlantean epoch men had reached the stage of Egohood, of ‘I’-consciousness.
For human beings not belonging to this particular phase of evolution, a different kind of revelation was given. The characteristic difference between the Buddha revelation and the Christ revelation is that the Buddha revelation was given to human beings not destined to unfold consciousness of the ‘I’ which passes through the series of incarnations. Without understanding what this implies, it is not possible to have a true conception of Buddhism. I have often spoken of a simile employed in a later phase of Buddhism, to the effect that the true Buddhist likens what passes over from one incarnation to another to the fruit of the mango which, when it is laid into the earth, produces a new tree upon which new fruit grows; the new mango fruit has in common with the old only ‘name’ and ‘form.’ The ‘form’ alone remains, the individual entity disappears and nothing that has real being passes on. Buddhism teaches nothing about the transmission of the Ego—for the reason that the Eastern peoples had not yet reached full consciousness of the ‘I’. And to this very day we find that when adherents of purely oriental teachings endeavour to understand Western thought and philosophy, they come to a standstill at the point where Egohood becomes an essential and basic factor. The Ego was destined to come to birth in the peoples of the West.
The time for the birth of the Ego was the Fourth post-Atlantean epoch, but if nothing had intervened, irregularity would have set in. This is indicated by something that made its first appearance in the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, namely Greek Philosophy. Greek philosophy is a significant sign of the birth of the Ego, but side by side with Greek philosophy we find the Sibylline soothsayers. Unlike the Pythia under the influence of Apollo, the Sibyls were women whose life of soul lacked order and harmony, who allowed the revelations they received to work chaotically in their thinking, feeling and willing. Great and sublime truths were often contained in these Sibylline revelations which began to play a part from about the eighth century B.C. and continued right on into the Middle Ages.—But the wisdom was confused and chaotic, fraught with all kinds of extravagance. Sibylline ‘wisdom’ is a striking example of he fact that the birth of Ego-consciousness (just as would have happened to the twelve senses in the Lemurian epoch, the seven life-organs in the earthly Atlantean epoch and the three soul-faculties at the end of the Atlantean epoch had it not been for the first three Christ Events. In the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, disorder would have crept into the development of Ego-consciousness if the Mystery of Golgotha had not taken place.
The Mystery of Golgotha comes down as it were by stages, from those lofty heights of Spirit where the Christ Event had taken place in the Lemurian epoch, to the physical plane itself—as our earthly Mystery of Golgotha.
Here again we have an indication of the supreme significance of this unique Event in Earth-evolution, prepared for as it had been by great and momentous happenings in the spiritual worlds. The connection with the sublime Sun Being we know as the Christ is revealed, too, in the Greek Apollo, for Apollo is the ‘Sun God.’
I have spoken in bare outline only of matters which help me to realise the significance of the Mystery of Golgotha. All these things could be expounded in detail and would reveal the untold Cosmic significance of this Event.
We have been considering the Mystery of Golgotha from the aspect of the Cosmos; but it is possible, too, to make a different approach.
A human being passes into the spiritual world through the Gate of Death or through initiation, but we will think now only of one who enters the spiritual world through death. He lays aside his physical body and this outermost sheath is given over to the earthly elements through burial or through cremation. Suppose that after death a man looks back from the spiritual world upon what is happening to his physical body as it passes over through decay or through cremation into the physical elements of the Earth.—What he beholds in the processes here taking place can be called a ‘happening of Nature’, like any other, in which no moral concepts, for example, are involved—for we do not apply moral concepts when clouds form, when lightening strikes from one cloud to another, and so forth. Man looks at his physical body in process of dissolution, just as he looks at these phenomena of Nature. But for a few days, as we know, his connection with the ether-body remains and then the second separation, the separation of the ether-body from the astral body and Ego takes place.
As man looks back upon the discarded ether-body, the processes in which it is involved are not of the same character as those operating in the discarded physical body. After death we can by no means look at what the ether-body is and what is becoming of it, as if it were a ‘phenomenon of Nature’. The ether-body reveals its own individual character, coloured by the feelings and sentiments we have harboured during life. The whole gamut of our feelings—good or bad—is revealed to us by the ether-body. The temper and tenor of our soul is stamped into the ether-body and becomes visible to us after death. Then by a complicated process it dissolves into the universe of ether, is absorbed into the other world.
Looking back in this way upon what becomes of our ether-body, we have before us an image of what we ourselves were in earthly life. And this image tells us: ‘If your feelings were good, if you were truly devoted to the spiritual worlds, then you have given over to the universe of Ether something that is good and beneficial; if your feelings were unrighteous, if you turned a deaf ear to information concerning the spiritual worlds, then you have given over to the Cosmos of Ether something that is injurious and harmful.
In the spiritual world it is part of the destiny of our soul, that is to say of our astral body and Ego, to behold ourselves in the fate of the ether-body—which cannot be changed once the separation from the physical body has taken place. It is a moment of paramount significance after death when we realise that just as in the world of sense we saw clouds and mountains, so now, after death, we see, as a kind of background, all that we ourselves laid into our ether-body through our feelings and tenor of soul. The picture expands as the ether-body dissolves, becomes as it were a “firmament” against which everything else stands out in relief. After death, therefore, man sees what is happening to his ether-body.
Something else is revealed as well, namely, two different kinks of properties, or forces, in the now dissolving ether-body: one of these properties gives rise to an impression that must always weigh heavily upon the soul after death. The best way to understand what this means is to think of the destiny confronting the physical Earth.
The destiny of the physical Earth is recognised to-day even by the physicists, who rightly speak of the “Wärmetod” (equilibration of heat and cold) to which the physical Earth will succumb. The relation of heat to the other physical forces is such that as scientific calculations already show, a time will come when all temperature will be reduced to a dead level. No life or existence in the physical kingdom of Earth will then be possible; the whole physical Earth will perish.
Materialists are bound to assume—for otherwise they would be inconsistent—that this equilibration of temperature, the Wärmetod, also entails the end of everything know to them as culture, the end of all human thinking, reflection, aspiration, endeavour, in short the disappearance of all human existence.
Those who understand the conditions as revealed by Spiritual Science know what this means, namely, that the physical Earth will fall away from the Spiritual like a corpse, just as the physical corpse falls away from that part of a man's being which passes onwards through the Gate of Death. At death, the corpse is discarded and as a being of soul-and-spirit, man lives through an intermediate period between death and a new birth, passing over from one state of existence to another. In the same way the spiritual part of the Earth will pass over to the ‘Jupiter existence’ when physical existence comes to an end. This ‘Jupiter existence’ will be a further embodiment of everything that is connected spiritually with the Earth.
And so when we are able after death to look back at the ether-body, we realise that in very truth one part of the ether-body has to do with everything in the realm of Earth that will ultimately perish. Certain forces in our ether-body have to do with the process by which the Earth is led onwards to its end. But the ether-body contains other forces too, quite different forces. We can picture the relation of these forces to the physical Earth by thinking of the seed of the plant surrounded by substance out of which the next plant arises. Similarly, we perceive in the ether-body, forces which have only to be active as long as the Earth exists, until the Earth comes to an end with the Wärmetod. But there are other forces too, ‘young’, fertile forces, and these are connected with everything that makes the Earth capable of germination in the Cosmos, of passing over to its next embodiment. This ‘fertile’ part of the ether-body can only be perceived—and here we come to another significant secret disclosed by Spiritual Science—when the human being has established a certain relationship with the Christ, the Christ Impulse. For this part of the ether-body is permeated with the Christ Forces which since the Mystery of Golgotha have poured into the sphere of the Earth. It is these Christ Forces in the ether-body which enable the ‘fertile seed’ in the human soul, too, to pass over to the Jupiter embodiment of the Earth. Our connection with the Christ Impulse therefore, enables us to perceive the fertile seed, the seed of the future within our ether-body. And this brings the certain knowledge that the power of the Mystery of Golgotha has flowed, in very truth, into the Earth-sphere and that this power was responsible for quickening the spiritual forces of the Earth with which we ourselves, as human beings, are inwoven. When a human being who has attained Ego-consciousness in the real sense—as is the case in the West to-day—gazes upon his ether-body after death, he must not find this ether-body devoid of the forces flowing from the Christ Impulse. For it means a life of unblessedness after death if the vista of the ether-body reveals that ether-body is not permeated by the Christ Impulse.
I have said many, many times that Christ has come to the Earth as a Real Being and that even those who in their surface-consciousness to-day resist the Christ Impulse... they too will gradually find their way to it, although perhaps one or two incarnations later than the peoples of the West. Man's blessedness after death depends upon the realisation that the Christ Impulse is present in the ether-body; whereas he is doomed to tribulation if he can perceive in the ether-body only that which must inevitably perish with the Earth. A man belonging to Western civilisation, born as he is with the clear Ego-consciousness to which the Oriental peoples have not yet attained, is doomed to a state of unblessedness if, after death, he must look back upon an ether-body lacking the‘substance’ of the Christ Impulse and containing only those forces by which Earth-evolution is finally led to its end. When a man cannot perceive the young, fertile forces of the Christ Impulse in his ether-body, it is rather like having to live after death under the constant impression of an earthquake or a volcanic eruption.
These young, fertile forces of the Christ Impulse... what are they?
Of one aspect I have spoken many times, namely, of the part played by the blood in the physical body of Christ Jesus. The blood is, of course, one of the physical components of the body, and in the case of an ordinary human being it dissolves away at death in the physical Elements. This did not happen to that part of the blood in the body of Christ Jesus which flowed from the wounds on Golgotha. This blood was ‘etherised’, was actually taken up into the etheric forces of the Earth. The blood that flowed from the wounds on Golgotha became Ether-Substance. And perceiving this Ether-Substance gleaming and glistening in the ether-body after death, man knows it to be the young, fertile life by which he is borne onwards into the future.
These quickening, freshening life-forces pour into the human ether-body from yet another source. Contemplation of the Fifth Gospel reveals—it is a deep and solemn impression—that after the body of Christ Jesus had been laid in the Grave, a certain happening led, in actual fact, to the scene described with such marvellous exactitude in the Gospel of St. John: the clothes lay scattered around the empty Grave. The Fifth Gospel reveals that it was indeed so. An undulating earthquake had produced a rift in the earth and into this rift the body of Christ Jesus fell. The rift then closed again and, as described in St. John's Gospel, the clothes in which the body had been shrouded were hurled about the empty sepulchre by the tempest. When these things are revealed to one from the Fifth Gospel, it is a deeply moving experience to find them confirmed in the Gospel of St. John.
And so something else too flowed into the human ether-body. What had been received into the rift in the earth poured through the blood now agleam in the Ether, making this gleaming blood visible in the human ether-body. As I said before, the ether-body expands after death and man sees it as a ‘firmament’ against which everything else stands out in relief. And the feeling arises: The body of Christ Jesus, empty of blood, spreads through the expanding ether-body like a basic substance. The body which had fallen into the chasm passed into the Earth, and the etherised blood now reveals itself in the tableau of the human ether-body, filling the tableau with life. And from this revelation arises the certainty: Mankind does not perish, but lives on as the spiritual essence of Earth-existence when the Earth falls away, just as the corpse falls away from the indwelling spiritual being on man. True, the ‘I’ and astral body guarantee freedom and immortality for man; but he would live on only for himself, he would pass over to Jupiter only to find himself in an alien world if the forces poured by the Christ Impulse into the Earth-sphere were not carried over to Jupiter.
If individual human beings were not rooted within an Earth-sphere that has been pervaded by the Christ Impulse, they would pass over to Jupiter in ‘poverty of soul’, with faculties hardly richer than those belonging to the Lemurian epoch. And this ‘poverty of soul’ which would give the conviction that earthly life is doomed to perish would betoken a state of unblessedness for man between death and rebirth; whereas realisation of what the Christ Impulse has wrought for the spiritual part of the Earth brings blessedness to the soul in the life between death and rebirth.
Since the Mystery of Golgotha, every experience by which the human soul is quickened and enriched comes from what was poured into the spiritual aura of the Earth by the Christ Impulse.
Sechster Vortrag
Aus den Mitteilungen, die ich aus dem Fünften Evangelium machen konnte, ist in erneuter Weise zu sehen, welche Veranstaltungen gewissermaßen im ganzen Weltenall notwendig waren, damit das eintreten konnte, was wir als das Mysterium von Golgatha kennen. Und dieses Mysterium von Golgatha ist selbst für die geisteswissenschaftliche Betrachtung wie eine Art vorläufiger Abschluß anderer Vorgänge, an die es sich in der Reihenfolge der Weltentatsachen anschließt.
Wir haben davon gesprochen, daß zwei Jesusknaben das Mysterium von Golgatha vorzubereiten hatten. Wir haben gesehen, wie der eine der beiden Jesusknaben, der sogenannte salomonische Jesus, in sich hatte das Ich des Zarathustra. Wir haben gesehen, wie dieses Ich des Zarathustra, nachdem die beiden Jesusknaben, die ja ungefähr gleichaltrig waren, das zwölfte Jahr erreicht hatten, hinübergezogen ist in den Leib des anderen Jesusknaben, desjenigen aus der nathanischen Linie des Hauses David. Wir haben dann aus dem Fünften Evangelium ausführlicher auseinandersetzen können, welche Schicksale jener Jesus von Nazareth durchgemacht hat, der also die drei Leibeshüllen trug, welche mit dem nathanischen Jesusknaben geboren worden sind, und der das Ich des Zarathustra bis in sein dreißigstes Jahr hinein in sich trug, bis zu dem Ihnen erzählten Gespräch mit der Mutter, wo durch die Gewalt der Rede, die er damals geführt hat, und in deren Worte er sein Ich selber hat einfließen lassen, gewissermaßen das Ich des Zarathustra die Leibeshüllen dieses Jesus von Nazareth verlassen hat. Und wir wissen, wie dann durch die Johannestaufe im Jordan das Christus-Wesen eingezogen ist in die dreifache Leibeshülle des Jesus von Nazareth.
Wir bekommen, wenn wir sie jetzt so zu fassen in der Lage sind, wahrhaftig keinen geringeren, sondern einen ungeheuer viel größeren Eindruck von der Bedeutung der Christus Jesus-Wesenheit, als diejenigen bekommen, die sie nur zu fassen in der Lage sind nach den bisherigen Kenntnissen und nach den Mitteilungen der Evangelien, so wie diese genommen werden können.
Dieses ganze Ereignis aber, das wir dann mit der Kreuzigung und Auferstehung zusammen das Mysterium von Golgatha nennen, schließt sich an drei andere an. Es ist gewissermaßen die vorläufig letzte Vollendung der drei anderen. Eines von diesen anderen Ereignissen fand schon statt in der alten lemurischen Zeit, von den beiden anderen das eine mehr im Beginne, das andere mehr gegen das Ende der atlantischen Zeit. Nur sind diese drei ersten Ereignisse solche, die sich nicht auf dem physischen Plan abgespielt haben, sondern in den geistigen Welten. Wir haben gewissermaßen seelisch hinzuschauen auf vier Ereignisse, von denen das letzte — dasjenige, mit dem wir uns bis jetzt vorzugsweise beschäftigt haben, und das wir das Mysterium von Golgatha nennen - sich auf dem physischen Plan abgespielt hat, während die drei anderen wie vorbereitende Ereignisse in den geistigen Welten waren.
Von demjenigen Wesen, welches wir als nathanischen Jesus ansprechen, habe ich Ihnen gesagt, daß es seine ganz besondere Natur dadurch zeigte, daß es gleich nach seiner Geburt bereits einige Worte zu sprechen vermochte, Worte, die allerdings in einer so sonderbaren Sprache gesprochen waren, daß diese Sprache damals nicht verstanden werden konnte, und daß nur die Mutter, aus ihrer Empfindung heraus, eine Ahnung davon hatte, was diese Worte zu bedeuten hatten. Von diesem nathanischen Jesusknaben müssen wir uns auch klar sein, daß er nicht eine Menschenwesenheit ist wie andere Menschenwesenheiten, daß er nicht — wie etwa der salomonische Jesusknabe, der das Ich des Zarathustra in sich hatte, und wie andere Menschen - viele Erdenleben hinter sich hatte, in derselben Weise solche viele Erdenleben hinter sich hatte, sondern daß er sein vorhergehendes Dasein durchaus in den geistigen Welten durchgemacht hat. Ich habe das schon bei früheren Gelegenheiten dadurch angedeutet, daß ich sagte: Von dem, was als Menschenseelen in die menschlichen Inkarnationen seit der lemurischen Zeit übergegangen ist, wurde gleichsam etwas zurückbehalten in den geistigen Welten, das nicht zur menschlichen Verkörperung geführt worden ist, sondern das dann erst zu einer menschlichen Verkörperung geführt wurde, als es eben geboren wurde als nathanischer Jesusknabe. Das, was damals zurückgeblieben ist, was man also nicht in dem gewöhnlichen Sinne des Wortes ein MenschenIch nennen kann - denn ein Menschen-Ich ist das, was von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation auf der Erde geht -, das machte seine Schicksale in den geistigen Welten durch. Und nur die Angehörigen der alten Mysterien, die imstande waren, die Vorgänge in den geistigen Welten zu beobachten, konnten wissen, daß dieses Wesen, das einmal erscheinen werde als der nathanische Jesusknabe, das durchseelt werden sollte von der Christus-Wesenheit, vorher gewisse Schicksale in den geistigen Welten durchzumachen hatte. Um diese Schicksale kennenzulernen, müssen wir uns folgendes vor Augen führen.
Die meisten von Ihnen werden sich noch jener Vorträge erinnern, die hier einmal vor einigen Jahren gehalten worden sind über Anthroposophie, und in denen ich zunächst von den Sinnen des Menschen gesprochen habe. Ich habe damals ausdrücklich angegeben, daß die gewöhnlich aufgezählten fünf Sinne des Menschen nur ein Teil der gesamten Sinne sind, und daß der Mensch im Grunde genommen zwölf Sinne hat. Es soll jetzt darauf hier nicht näher eingegangen werden. Darauf aber sollte hingedeutet werden, daß das, was menschliche Sinne sind, was also in unseren physischen Leib als Sinne eingebettet ist, eigentlich zu einem Schicksal verurteilt gewesen wäre, das für die Menschen unheilsam geworden wäre, wenn nicht das erste Christus-Ereignis in den geistigen Welten in der alten lemurischen Zeit stattgefunden hätte, gleichsam der erste Vorläufer des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Der Mensch wurde ja in der lemurischen Zeit so verkörpert, daß er im wesentlichen die Anlage zu seinen Sinnen hatte. Aber wir wissen auch, daß in der lemurischen Zeit stattgefunden hat der Einfluß der luziferischen Mächte auf die menschliche Evolution. Dieser Einfluß der luziferischen Mächte hat sich auf alles in der menschlichen Organisation erstreckt. Hätte nun wirklich nichts anderes stattgefunden als das, wodurch der Mensch in der lemurischen Zeit zu seiner Erdeninkarnation geführt worden ist, und dann der luziferische Einfluß, so würden unsere Sinne ganz anders geworden sein, als sie nun geworden sind. Diese Sinne würden, man könnte sagen, überempfindlich geworden sein, übersensitiv. Sie würden so geworden sein, daß wir nicht gleichsam mit unseren Sinnen temperiert durch die Welt gehen, sondern es würde zum Beispiel eine rote Farbe auf das menschliche Auge den Eindruck gemacht haben, daß das Auge durch den Eindruck der roten Farbe gleichsam einen ganz bestimmten Schmerz empfunden hätte. Durch andere Eindrücke würden in anderer Weise die Sinne leidvoll berührt worden sein. Wie ausgesogen würde sich das Auge zum Beispiel gefühlt haben von der blauen Farbe. Und so mit allen anderen Sinnen. Man hätte müssen so durch die Welt gehen, daß die Sinne fortwährend in leidvoller Weise, oder auch wohl in übermäßiger und daher auch unheilsamer Lust, affiziert worden wären. Die Sinne wären stärker, als es ihnen heilsam ist, von allen äußeren Einflüssen beeindruckt worden. Das wäre durch den luziferischen Einfluß gekommen.
Das ist abgewendet worden von der Menschheit, jetzt nicht durch ein Ereignis, das im physischen Erdenbereich stattgefunden hat, sondern durch den Vorgang, der gewissermaßen der erste vorbereitende Vorgang für das Mysterium von Golgatha ist. In der lemurischen Zeit noch vereinigte sich dieselbe Christus-Wesenheit, die später durch die Johannestaufe im Jordan sich mit dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth vereinigt hat, mit einem Wesen, das damals noch in den geistigen Welten war: mit dem Wesen, das später geboren worden ist als der nathanische Jesusknabe, der aber damals noch in den geistigen Welten war. Wenn man von dem Palästina-Ereignis sagen kann, das ChristusWesen verkörperte sich in dem Jesus von Nazareth, so müßte man gegenüber diesem ersten Christus-Ereignis sagen, es verseelte sich in der lemurischen Zeit in der geistigen Welt in einem Wesen, das später herunterstieg auf die Erde als nathanischer Jesus. So lebte denn in den geistigen Welten eine geistig-seelische Wesenheit, welche durch diese Tat des Sich-Verbindens, also der Christus-Wesenheit mit der Seele des späteren Jesus von Nazareth, und durch alles, was aus dieser Tat folgte, den menschlichen Sinnen das Unheil nahm, also von den geistigen Welten die Menschheit gleichsam so überstrahlte, damit nicht den Sinnen das Unheil geworden wäre, in so leidvoller oder in so übersensitiver Weise über die Erde gehen zu müssen. Zum Heil der Sinne geschah das erste vorbereitende Ereignis des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Daß wir in unserer jetzigen Art mit unseren Sinnen durch die Welt gehen können, ist eine Folge dieses ersten Christus-Ereigtlisses.
Im Anfange der atlantischen Zeit fand ein zweites Ereignis statt. Es bestand wieder darin, daß das Wesen, das später zum nathanischen Jesus geworden ist, durchseelt wurde von der Christus-Wesenheit. Dadurch wurde ein anderes Unheil von der menschlichen Natur abgewendet. Denn auch wenn die Sinne durch das erste Christus-Ereignis schon gesund geworden wären, so wäre doch durch den luziferischen und den späteren ahrimanischen Einfluß diese menschliche Natur so geworden, daß die sogenannten sieben Lebensorgane - ich habe bei Gelegenheit der Vorträge über Anthroposophie auch von den sieben Lebensorganen gesprochen; gefäßartige Organe sind sie im physischen Leibe, was ihnen aber zugrunde liegt, ist eigentlich eine Organisation des Ätherleibes - so geworden wären, daß wir wieder nicht so als Menschen durch die Welt gehen könnten, wie es jetzt mit Sympathie und Antipathie der Fall ist, sondern der Mensch würde abwechselnd wüste Gier und furchtbarsten Ekel empfunden haben in bezug auf das, was er mit seinen Leebensorganen genießt, was ihm Nahrung sein kann. Aber auch was an seine Atmungsorgane herantreten konnte, würde er so empfunden haben, daß er es entweder mit wilder Gier erfassen oder mit tiefstem Ekel abweisen wollte. Also auch die sieben Lebensorgane würden übermäßig tätig geworden sein durch den Einfluß von Luzifer und Ahriman. Da trat das zweite Christus-Ereignis ein, wiederum ein Ereignis in den übersinnlichen Welten. Durch dieses wurden die Lebensorgane des Menschen in die Möglichkeit gebracht, in gewissem Sinne mäßig, maßvoll zu sein. So, ‚wie unsere Sinne niemals gleichsam in Weisheit hätten die Welt anschauen können, wenn nicht das erste Christus-Ereignis in der lemurischen Zeit stattgefunden hätte, so hätten unsere Lebensorgane nie mäßig sein können, wenn nicht das zweite Christus-Ereignis im Beginne der atlantischen Zeit geschehen wäre.
Aber noch ein drittes Unheil stand den Menschen bevor, ein Unheil, das sich auf seinen astralischen Leib bezog, auf die Verteilung von Denken, Fühlen und Wollen. Heute sind Denken, Fühlen und Wollen beim Menschen in einer gewissen Harmonie, und wenn diese zerstört ist, dann ist die Gesundheit des Menschen zerstört. Wenn Denken, Fühlen und Wollen nicht in richtigem Maße ineinanderwirken, dann kommt der Mensch entweder in übergroße Hypochondrie oder bis in Wahnsinnszustände hinein. Bis zu Wahnsinnszuständen hätten also die ° Menschen in vollkommener Unordnung in bezug auf Denken, Fühlen und Wollen kommen können, wenn nicht gegen das Ende der atlantischen Zeit das dritte Christus-Ereignis stattgefunden hätte. Das hat bewirkt — es ist wieder eine Durchseelung des noch in den übersinnlichen Welten befindlichen nathanischen Jesus mit dem Christus —, daß maßvolle Harmonie in die Seelenkräfte des Menschen, in Denken, Fühlen und Wollen, gebracht worden ist.
Diese drei Ereignisse, die ich jetzt angeführt habe, haben alle aus den geistigen Welten in den Menschen hineingewirkt; sie haben sich nicht vollzogen auf dem physischen Plan. Aber insbesondere von dem dritten Ereignis ist in den mythischen Vorstellungen ein gutes Andenken geblieben. Und wie in vielen Fällen uns die geistige Erkenntnis dahin führt, solche Zeichen, die in Sagen und Mythen sich erhalten haben, in der rechten Weise zu verstehen, sie sozusagen in der richtigen Weise zu vertiefen, so kann es auch mit diesem Zeichen sein. Wir alle kennen es ja, dieses Zeichen, welches ein übersinnliches Wesen darstellt - sei es der Erzengel Michael, sei es der heilige Georg tottretend, überwindend den Drachen. Das ist die bildliche Darstellung des dritten Christus-Ereignisses: der Erzengel Michael oder Sankt Georg, der spätere nathanische Jesusknabe, durchseelt von der Christus-Wesenheit. Daher gibt es die erzengelhafte Gestalt in den geistigen Welten. Und die Überwindung des Drachens bedeutet die Unterdrückung desjenigen im menschlichen Denken, Fühlen und Wollen — also in der Leidenschaftsnatur des Menschen -, welches Denken, Fühlen und Wollen durcheinanderwerfen würde, in Unordnung bringen würde. Man kann es tief empfinden, wie in solchen gewaltigen Bildern, die gleichsam aufgerichtet sind, damit das, was nicht mit dem Verstande erfaßt, begriffen werden kann, wenigstens für das symbolische Anschauen und für das Gefühl vor die Menschenseele hingestellt werden, wie darin tiefe, tiefe Zusammenhänge sich aussprechen.
Wir haben bei früheren Gelegenheiten erwähnt, wie das Griechentum in seiner Götter- und Geisterwelt Abschattungen, gleichsam die Schattenbilder desjenigen gehabt hat, was sich in der atlantischen Zeit als wirkliche göttlich-geistige Wesenheiten gleichsam in der Welt unmittelbar über den Menschen befunden hat. Nun hatten die Griechen ein deutliches Bewußtsein gerade von dem dritten Christus-Ereignis, von jenem Christus-Ereignis, das sonst eben für die Menschenseele nur bildlich dargestellt wird durch Sankt Georg oder den Erzengel Michael, den Drachen überwindend. Die Griechen stellten dar den Christus, durchseelend den späteren nathanischen Jesusknaben, als ihren Apollon. Und in tief bedeutsamer Weise, man möchte sagen, in den Kosmos selbst hineingestellt ist Sankt Georg mit dem Drachen in Griechenland. Die Griechen hatten jenen kastalischen Quell am Parnassos, an dem sich eröffnete aus der Erde heraus ein Schlund, aus dem Dämpfe aufstiegen. Diese Dämpfe umgaben schlangenartig den Berg, so daß man in diesen schlangenartig den Berg umgebenden Dämpfen selber ein Bild hatte der wild stürmenden menschlichen Leidenschaften, die Denken, Fühlen und Wollen in Unordnung bringen. Über dem Erdschlund, an der Stelle, wo diese schlangenartigen Dämpfe herauskamen, in denen der Python lebte, errichtete man jene Orakelstätte, welche der Pythia geweiht war. Die Pythia saß auf ihrem Dreifuß über diesem Erdschlund und wurde durch die heraufsteigenden Dämpfe in einen visionären Zustand gebracht, und was sie in diesem Zustande sprach, das faßte man auf als den Ausspruch des Apollon selber. Und die, welche Ratschlüsse haben wollten, schickten zur Pythia und ließen sich von Apollo durch den Mund der Pythia Rat erteilen.
Die Anschauung lag also bei den Griechen zugrunde, daß Apollo zurückführt auf eine wirkliche Wesenheit. Jetzt kennen wir diese Wesenheit. Es ist der von dem Christus durchseelte spätere nathanische Jesusknabe, Apollo bei den Griechen genannt. Er nimmt dem, was aus der Erde in der Seele der Pythia aufsteigt, seine luziferischahrimanische Wirkung. Und weil in den Dämpfen das Opfer des Apollon aufsteigt, so sind sie nicht mehr verwirrend, sondern weise ordnend Denken, Fühlen und Wollen für die Griechen. So sehen wir, wie in der Apollon-Idee der Griechen das lebt, daß in Denken, Fühlen. und Wollen der Menschen eingezogen ist der Gott, den wir später den Christus nennen, der Gott, der damals sich geopfert hat, indem er in die Seele des späteren nathanischen Jesusknaben eingezogen ist und Harmonie ausgegossen hat in das, worauf der Einfluß von Luzifer und Ahriman - in Denken, Fühlen und Wollen - in der Menschenseele verwirrend wirken mußte.
So haben wir drei Christus-Ereignisse in den übersinnlichen Welten, welche das Ereignis von Golgatha eigentlich vorbereiten. Wenn wir nun nach der Bedeutung des Ereignisses von Golgatha selber fragen: Was ist durch dieses Ereignis eigentlich bewirkt worden, was wäre in Unordnung gekommen, wenn das Ereignis von Golgatha nicht eingetreten wäre? — dann wissen wir ja, daß in der vierten nachatlantischen Kulturepoche, der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit, die Menschheit reif wurde, das Ich zu entwickeln. Zunächst war gerade jener Winkel des Abendlandes reif, um das Ich zu entwickeln, der sich in Westasien, Süd- und Mitteleuropa ausbreitete. Namentlich sollte das Ich entwickelt werden durch den Zusammenstoß der romanischen Völker mit den germanischen in Mittel- und Südeuropa. Das Ich sollte also im vierten nachatlantischen Zeitraume entwickelt werden. Aber es wäre in ungeordneter Weise entwickelt worden. Denn so, wie die Sinne in ungeordneter Weise ausgebildet worden wären in der lemurischen Zeit, wenn nicht das erste Christus-Ereignis eingetreten wäre, wie sich die sieben Lebensorgane in unrichtiger Weise entwickelt hätten, wenn nicht das zweite Christus-Ereignis im Beginne der atlantischen Zeit geschehen wäre, wie die drei Seelenbetätigungen des Menschen - Denken, Fühlen und Wollen - in ungeordneter Weise sich entwickelt hätten, wenn nicht das dritte Christus-Ereignis gegen das Ende der atlantischen Zeit eingetreten wäre, so würde sich das Ich ungeordnet entwickelt haben, wenn nicht das vierte ChristusEreignis in der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit, eben das Mysterium von Golgatha, eingetreten wäre. Denn - das haben wir schon öfter hervorgehoben - zum Ich, zum Bewußtsein des Ichs waren die Menschen im vierten nachatlantischen Zeitraume gekommen.
Für diejenigen Menschen, welche nicht haben dazu kommen sollen, wurde zunächst eine andere Art von Offenbarung gegeben. Denn das ist der charakteristische Unterschied zwischen der Buddha-Offenbarung und der Christus-Offenbarung, daß die Buddha-Offenbarung an Menschen erging, welche nicht eigentlich zum Bewußtsein ihres durch die Inkarnationen durchgehenden Ichs kommen sollten. Der versteht den Buddhismus nicht, der nicht gerade dieses in der richtigen Weise auffaßt. Es wurde von mir öfter auf ein im späteren Buddhismus gebrauchtes Gleichnis hingewiesen, in welchem gesagt wird, daß der richtige Buddhist das, was von einer Inkarnation zur anderen übergeht, so ansieht, daß er es vergleicht mit der Mangofrucht, die, wenn sie in die Erde gelegt wird, einen neuen Baum hervorbringt, auf dem eine neue Frucht wächst. Name und Form sind es nur, was die neue Mangofrucht mit der alten gemeinsam hat. Das ist das Charakteristische des Buddhismus, daß von einem durch die Inkarnationen durchgehenden realen Ich nicht gesprochen wurde. Aus dem Grunde wurde nicht davon gesprochen, weil ein reales Ich bei den Völkern des Ostens nicht voll zum Bewußtsein gekommen ist. Heute noch kann man sehen: Wenn auf den Lehren des Ostens stehende Menschen Weltanschauungen des Westens begreifen wollen, so können sie nicht bis zu dem Punkte vordringen, wo das Ich einsetzt.
Das Ich sollte von den Völkern der vierten nachatlantischen Kulturperiode geboren werden. Es wäre aber ungeordnet geboren worden. Daß es ungeordnet geboren worden wäre, zeigt sich an einer Erscheinung, die sehr bedeutsam im vierten nachatlantischen Zeitraum auftritt. Wie ein signifikanter Ausdruck für die Geburt des Ichs steht da das Element der griechischen Philosophie. Aber wie eine Begleiterscheinung der griechischen Philosophie steht andererseits da das Sibyllentum, jenes Sibyllentum, von dem wir sagen müssen: Sibyllen sind alle diejenigen weiblichen Wesenheiten, welche nicht wie die Pythia durch Apollo in ihrem Seelenleben harmonisiert wurden, sondern die ihre Offenbarungen ungeordnet in Denken, Fühlen und Wollen wirken ließen. Durch diese sibyllinischen Offenbarungen, welche vom 8. vorchristlichen Jahrhundert an da waren und bis ins Mittelalter hinein reichten, strömte oft etwas von höchsten Wahrheiten, aber ungeordnet, durchsetzt mit allerlei sonderbarem Zeug. In dem Sibyllentum zeigt sich insbesondere, wie die Geburt des IchBewußtseins zunächst verwirrend hätte wirken müssen, wie das Ich durch die luziferischen und ahrimanischen Einflüsse ebenso ungeordnet herausgekommen wäre, wie die zwölf Sinne in der lemurischen Zeit, wie die sieben Lebensorgane in der frühen atlantischen Zeit und wie die drei Seelenorgane in der späteren atlantischen Zeit ohne die drei ersten Christus-Ereignisse ungeordnet hätten herauskommen müssen. So hätte in der nachatlantischen Zeit das Ich ungeordnet herauskommen müssen, wenn nicht das Mysterium von Golgatha eingetreten wäre.
So sehen wir, wie dieses Mysterium von Golgatha gleichsam von einer geistigen Höhe, wo es sich als erstes Christus-Ereignis in der lemurischen Zeit abspielt, stufenweise heruntersteigt, bis es zum physischen Plan kommt, eben in unserem irdischen Mysterium von Golgatha. Das kann uns wiederum hinweisen auf die ganze Bedeutung dieses einzigartigen Ereignisses für die Erdentwickelung, kann uns darauf hinweisen, wie dieses einzigartige Ereignis aber wohlvorbereitet war aus den geistigen Welten heraus. Der Zusammenhang mit dem hohen Sonnenwesen, der öfter in bezug auf das Christus-Wesen von uns hervorgehoben worden ist, zeigt sich ja auch in der griechischen Apollo-Idee, da Apollo der Sonnengott ist.
Ich habe nur skizzenhaft angedeutet, was also hat herbeigetragen werden können zur völligen Erklärung der Bedeutung des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Alle diese Dinge könnten in allen Einzelheiten ausgeführt werden und würden dann die ganze ungeheure kosmische Größe dieses Mysteriums von Golgatha zeigen. So kann man sich diesem Mysterium von Golgatha nähern aus der Betrachtung des Kosmos heraus. Man kann sich ihm aber auch noch von einer anderen Seite aus nähern. Das kann etwa in der folgenden Weise geschehen.
Nehmen wir an, der Mensch geht in die geistige Welt, durch die Pforte des Todes oder durch die Initiation. Und bleiben wir jetzt bei dem, daß er durch die Pforte des Todes in die geistige Welt kommt, dann ist das erste, daß der Mensch seinen physischen Leib gleichsam als die äußerste Hülle ablegt. Dieser physische Leib wird den Erdenelementen übergeben. Nehmen wir einmal an, der Mensch würde aus der geistigen Welt, in der er ist, nachdem er durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist, zurückschauen auf das Schicksal seines physischen Leibes, wie er, verwest oder verbrannt, den physischen Elementen der Erde übergeben wird. Was der Mensch in diesen Prozessen sieht, wenn er von der geistigen Welt aus zurückschaut auf das Schicksal des physischen Leibes, das könnte man ein Naturereignis nennen wie ein anderes Naturereignis, ein Ereignis, bei dem man moralische Begriffe so wenig anwendet, wie man moralische Begriffe anwendet, wenn die Wolken sich bilden und der Blitz von einer Wolke in die andere fährt und dergleichen. So wie man auf diese Naturereignisse sieht, so hat man zunächst auf das zu sehen, was sich da auflöst als physischer Leib. Wir wissen aber weiter, daß der Mensch dann einige Tage verbunden bleibt mit seinem Ätherleibe und daß als eine Art zweite Loslösung die des Ätherleibes vom astralischen Leib und vom Ich geschieht. |
Wenn der Mensch dann zurückschaut auf den abgelösten Ätherleib, so nimmt sich dieser schon anders aus in seinen Prozessen als der abgelöste physische Leib. Vor allem können wir nach dem Tode von der geistigen Welt aus auf den Ätherleib nicht so hinschauen, daß wir das, was der Ätherleib dann ist und was aus ihm wird, wie ein Naturereignis ansehen können. Das ist gar nicht der Fall, sondern dieser Ätherleib zeigt uns in seiner Eigenart, wie in ihn verwoben, was wir als Gesinnungen unserer Seele in uns getragen haben bis zu unserem Tode. Haben wir gute Gesinnungen gehabt, so sieht man das dem Ätherleibe an; haben wir tückische, schlechte Gesinnungen gehabt, so sieht man ihm das ebenfalls an. Ja, man sieht und fühlt ihm an, möchte man sagen, die ganze Stufenleiter von guten und schlechten Gefühlen und Empfindungen. Das alles ist in ihm ausgedrückt. Wir legen unsere innere Seelenverfassung, wie sie ist, in den Ätherleib hinein. Das sieht man darinnen, und das löst sich in einer komplizierten Weise in der ätherischen Welt auf, wird von dieser aufgesogen. Wenn wit daher so zurückblicken auf das Schicksal unseres ätherischen Leibes, so blicken wir eigentlich auf ein Abbild dessen zurück, was wir selber im Erdenleben waren.
Wir können uns von dem, was wir da anschauen, noch etwas ganz Besonderes sagen. Wir können uns sagen: Hast du diese oder jene guten Empfindungen, diese oder jene Hingabe an die geistigen Welten gehabt, dann hast du dem allgemeinen Ätherkosmos etwas übergeben, was dort als Gutes weiterwirkt. Hast du schlechte Empfindungen, schlechte Gefühle gehabt und dich nicht befassen wollen mit den Schilderungen aus den geistigen Welten, so hast du dem Ätherkosmos etwas übergeben, was Schaden, Verheerung anrichtet in der ätherischen Welt.
Es gehört zum Schicksale unserer Seele, also unseres Astralleibes und unseres Ichs, was diese in der geistigen Welt sind, das anzuschauen, was man so selber angerichtet hat in dem Schicksale seines Ätherleibes, der nicht mehr geändert werden kann, wenn er von dem physischen Leibe losgelöst ist. Es ist sogar der hauptsächlichste Anblick, den man nach dem Tode hat. Wie man vorher in der Sinneswelt den Anblick von Wolken, Bergen und so weiter hatte, so hat man jetzt nach dem Tode, wie einen Hintergrund, den Anblick desjenigen, was man selbst durch seine Seelenverfassung und seine Gesinnungen in seinen Ätherleib hineingelegt hat. Das wird immer größer und größer, je weiter sich der Ätherleib auflöst, und wird tatsächlich so wie das Firmament, auf dem alles andere erscheint. Es gehört daher zum Schicksale des Menschen nach dem Tode, die Schicksale des ätherischen Leibes anzuschauen.
Dazu zeigt sich noch etwas anderes: daß dieser Ätherleib, der sich da auflöst, eigentlich, man könnte sagen, zweierlei Eigenschaften hat. Die eine Eigenschaft hängt mit etwas zusammen, was im Grunde genommen immer einen bedrückenden, einen betrübenden Eindruck nach dem Tode macht. Womit diese Eigenschaft da zusammenhängt, das wird uns am besten dadurch klar werden, daß wir ein wenig auf das Schicksal der physischen Erde hinweisen.
Dieses Schicksal der physischen Erde wird ja heute schon von den Physikern anerkannt. Es wird von den Physikern als richtig anerkannt, daß die Erde als physisches Wesen einmal dem sogenannten Wärmetod verfallen wird. Das Verhältnis der Wärme zu den anderen physikalischen Kräften der Erde ist so, daß einmal in einer gewissen Zukunft der Zeitpunkt eintreten wird — das ist heute schon ein physikalisches Ergebnis -, wo alles in eine gewisse gleichmäßige Wärme übergegangen sein wird. Dann wird nichts mehr da sein, was an Ereignissen und Verrichtungen auf der Erde geschehen könnte in ihrem physischen Bereich. Die ganze Erde wird dem Wärmetode verfallen sein.
Diejenigen, die Materialisten sind, müssen natürlich als selbstverständlich annehmen — denn sonst sind sie nicht konsequent —, daß mit diesem Wärmetode alles, auch was sie menschliche Kultur, menschliches Denken, Sinnen und Trachten nennen, aufhören müsse, daß das ganze menschliche Leben in der gleichmäßigen Erdenwärme verschwinden müsse. Wer die Verhältnisse durchschaut, wie sie die geisteswissenschaftliche Lehre geben kann, der weiß, wie dieser Wärmetod bedeutet, daß die physische Erde wie ein Leichnam abfallen wird von ihrem Geistigen, das zu ihr gehört, wie der menschliche physische Leichnam von dem abfällt, was vom Menschen durch die Pforte des Todes schreitet. Und wie der menschliche Leichnam mit dem Tode zurückbleibt von dem Geistig-Seelischen des Menschen, das durch einen Zwischenzustand zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt durchgeht, und wie der Mensch von einem Zustande zu anderen geht, so wird das Geistige der Erde, wenn ihr Erdendasein mit dem Wärmetode zu Ende gehen wird, zum Jupiterdasein übergehen. Dieses Jupiterdasein wird eine weitere Verkörperung alles desjenigen sein, was geistig mit der Erde in Verbindung steht.
Wenn wit so nach dem Tode zurückschauen können auf den Ätherleib, dann fällt wirklich auf durch eine gewisse Empfindung, die gegenüber diesem Ätherleibe da ist, daß ein Teil der Eigenschaften des Ätherleibes zusammenhängt mit alledem, was innerhalb des Erdenbereiches dem Wärmetode verfällt, was sich auflöst. Solche Kräfte sind in unserem Ätherleibe, welche die tätigen Kräfte sind, um die Erde in den Wärmetod hineinzuführen. Aber andere Kräfte sind noch da.
Eine zweite Art von Kräften in diesem Ätherleibe ist zu bemerken, und diese verhalten sich zu allem Irdischen so, wie wenn man hinsehen würde auf den Pflanzenkeim und sehen, wie der Pflanzenkeim umgeben ist von einer solchen Pflanzensubstanz, aus der die nächste Pflanze neu entsteht. In ähnlicher Weise sieht man im Ätherleibe: da sind Kräfte, die nur tätig sein müssen für die Erde, solange die Erde besteht, bis die Erde dem Wärmetod verfällt. Dann aber sind junge Kräfte darinnen, die zusammenhängen mit dem, was die Erde wie Keimfähiges im Kosmos enthält, um hinübergeführt zu werden zur nächsten Inkarnation der Erde. Aber diesen gleichsam keimeskräftigen Teil des Ätherleibes kann man nur sehen — und damit berühren wir wieder ein sehr wichtiges Geheimnis der Geisteswissenschaft -, wenn _ man ein gewisses Verhältnis gewonnen hat zu der Christus-Wesenheit, zu dem Christus-Impuls. Denn dieser Teil ist durchdrungen von den Christus-Kräften, die sich durch das Mysterium von Golgatha in die geistige Erdensphäre ausgegossen haben. Da sind sie drinnen, in diesem Teil. Denn diese Christus-Kräfte stellen das dar, was auch von den Menschen das Keimfähige hinüberträgt zum Jupiter. Das befähigt uns also, unseren Zusammenhang mit dem Christus-Impuls, das Keimfähige, das Zukunftsfähige in unserem Ätherleibe zu schauen.
Wenn dies dann so angeschaut wird, dann hat man die Sicherheit, daß wirklich vom Mysterium von Golgatha das, was öfter angeführt worden ist, ausgeflossen ist in die Erdensphäre, und daß es etwas zu tun ’hat mit der Wiederbelebung des ganzen Geistigen der Erde, in das wir selber als Menschen eingebettet sind. Und zu den Erlebnissen, die ein Menschenwesen haben muß, welches ein richtiges Bewußtsein vom Ich hat, wie es der heutige Mensch des Westens hat, zu diesen Erlebnissen gehört geradezu, nach dem Tode beim Hinblick auf seinen Ätherleib diesen Ätherleib nicht ohne die Durchdringung mit dem Christus-Impuls zu sehen. Denn es ist ein unseliges Leben nach dem Tode, wenn man im Anblick seines Ätherleibes entbehren muß das Durchtränktsein des Ätherleibes mit dem Christus-Impuls. Das ist es, warum ich immer darauf hingewiesen habe, daß der Christus als eine Tatsache auf die Erde gekommen ist, und daß auch diejenigen Menschen, welche sich heute noch mit ihrem Oberbewußtsein sträuben gegenüber dem Christus-Impuls, nach und nach den Zugang zu dem Christus-Impuls finden werden, wenn sie ihn auch vielleicht um eine oder zwei Inkarnationen später finden werden als die Bevölkerung der westlichen Kulturgegenden der Erde.
Es macht des Menschen Seligkeit nach dem Tode aus, im Anblick seines Ätherleibes die Sicherheit des Christus-Impulses zu haben. Es macht des Menschen Unseligkeit nach dem Tode aus, am Ätherleibe nur das zu bemerken, was gewissermaßen dem Erdentode verfallen muß. Für denjenigen Menschen, der durch seine westliche Kultur eben ein deutliches Ich-Bewußtsein hat — die östlichen Menschen haben dieses Ich-Bewußtsein noch nicht deutlich -, für den Menschen, der mit dem deutlichen Ich-Bewußtsein, wie bei den westlichen Völkern, schon geboren ist, bedeutet es durchaus etwas Unseliges, hinzuschauen auf seinen Ätherleib und dort nur die für die Erdentwickelung zerstörenden Kräfte zu sehen, nicht aber ersehen zu können, daß dort der Christus-Impuls als eine Substanz drinnen ist. Es ist etwa so, wie wenn man fortwährend unter dem Eindrucke eines Erdbebens oder eines Vulkanausbruches leben müßte nach dem Tode, wenn man nicht die jungen Keimkräfte des Christus-Impulses im Ätherleibe schauen kann.
Diese jungen Keimkräfte des Christus-Impulses, was sind sie denn eigentlich? Nun, das eine, was dazugehört, habe ich schon seit Jahren bei verschiedenen Gelegenheiten erwähnt. Wir haben davon gesprochen, welche Rolle das Blut im physischen Leibe des Christus Jesus spielt. Das Blut gehört ja zu den physischen Substanzen des Leibes, und für den gewöhnlichen Menschenleib gehört es zu dem, was sich mit dem Tode physisch auflöst in die Elemente. Das war nicht der Fall, wenigstens nicht bei dem Teile des Blutes des Christus Jesus, der auf Golgatha aus den Wunden zur Erde floß. Dieser Teil des Blutes ätherisierte sich, wurde wirklich aufgenommen von den Ätherkräften der Erde, so daß das Blut, das damals aus den Wunden floß, zur Äthersubstanz wurde. Und diese Äthersubstanz erglänzt, erhellt, erlimmert in dem Ätherleibe und - man empfindet es so nach dem Tode - zeigt sich so, daß der Mensch weiß: Da ist frisch keimendes Leben, welches den Menschen lebensfähig der Zukunft entgegenführt.
Noch von einer anderen Seite kommen die Ingredienzien in den Ätherleib hinein, was uns zeigen kann, wie frischkräftiges Leben dadrinnen ist. Gerade die Betrachtung aus dem Fünften Evangelium zeigt an — es gehört das zu den großen Eindrücken, wenn man dem nachgeht, was in dem Fünften Evangelium gegeben werden kann -, daß, nachdem der Leichnam des Christus Jesus in das Grab gelegt worden ist, wirklich etwas eintrat, wodurch zum Schluß die Dinge da sein konnten, wie sie so wunderbar genau das Johannes-Evangelium schildert: wie das Grab leer ist und wie die Tücher ringsherum lagen. So war es auch. Das zeigt uns das Fünfte Evangelium. Es war deshalb so, weil ein wellenartiges Erdbeben stattgefunden hatte mit einer Spaltung der Erde. In diesen Spalt fiel der Leichnam des Christus Jesus hinein. Dieser Spalt schloß sich dann wieder. Und durch das wellenartige Bewegen und Stürmen wurden tatsächlich die Leichentücher so herumgeworfen, wie sie dann im Johannes-Evangelium bei der Beschreibung des leeren Grabes in ihren Lagen geschildert werden. Das ist der große, zu Herzen gehende Eindruck, wenn man durch das Fünfte Evangelium diese Dinge erfährt und dann im Johannes-Evangelium die Bestätigung findet.
Noch etwas hat sich also in den Ätherleib hineinbegeben: Was da von dem Erdspalt aufgenommen worden ist, das durchdrang dasjenige, was wir das in der Äthersubstanz erflimmernde und erglitzernde Blut genannt haben, und dadurch wird das flimmernde und glitzernde Blut im Ätherleibe sichtbar; so daß man die Empfindung hat - ich sagte vorhin: es breitet sich der Ätherleib nach dem Tode aus und man erblickt ihn wie eine Art Firmament, von dem sich alles andere abhebt, es spannt sich aus in diesem sich ausbreitenden Ätherleibe wie eine Grundsubstanz der Leib, der blutentleerte Leib des Christus Jesus, der von dem Erdspalt aufgenommen worden ist und so in die Erde übergegangen ist und in dem ausgespannten Tableau des Ätherleibes wie diesen belebend erscheint.
Und dieser Anblick gibt die Gewißheit: Die Menschheit geht nicht zugrunde, sondern lebt als geistiger Inhalt der Erde weiter, wenn das Physische der Erde abfällt, wie der einzelne menschliche Leichnam von dem Geistigen des Menschen abfällt. Das Ich und der astralische Leib sind ja gewiß so, daß sie dem Menschen Freiheit und Unsterblichkeit verbürgen. Aber der Mensch würde allein für sich fortleben. Er würde auf dem Jupiter ankommen und nicht zum Jupiterleben passen, wenn nicht das, was auf der Erde erlangt worden ist, zum Jupiter hinübergetragen würde: wenn nicht hinübergetragen würde, was durch den Christus-Impuls in die Erdensphäre hineingebracht worden ist.
Man kann sagen, die einzelnen Menschen würden kaum mehr bereichert, als sie schon in der lemurischen Zeit waren, in den Jupiter hinüberleben, arm würden sie in den Jupiter hinüberleben, wenn sie nicht hineingebettet wären in eine Erdensphäre, die durchchtristet ist. Und diese Armut, die den Eindruck machen würde: Das Erdenleben ist eigentlich verloren -, sie würde als etwas Unseliges vor dem Menschen stehen im Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, während das, was der Christus-Impuls aus dem geistigen Teil der Erde gemacht hat, der Seele die Seligkeit gibt im Leben zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt: Ja, alles was die Seele erleben kann nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha, kommt durch das, was ausgeflossen ist durch den ChristusImpuls in die geistige Erdenatmosphäre!
Sixth Lecture
From the information I have been able to glean from the Fifth Gospel, we can see in a new light what events were necessary throughout the entire universe in order for what we know as the Mystery of Golgotha to occur. And this Mystery of Golgotha is, even for spiritual scientific observation, like a kind of provisional conclusion to other processes, to which it is connected in the sequence of world events.
We have spoken of the fact that two Jesus boys had to prepare the Mystery of Golgotha. We have seen how one of the two Jesus children, the so-called Solomonic Jesus, had within himself the I of Zarathustra. We have seen how this I of Zarathustra, after the two Jesus children, who were about the same age, had reached the twelfth year, passed over into the body of the other Jesus child, the one from the Nathanic line of the House of David. We were then able to examine in more detail in the Fifth Gospel the fate of that Jesus of Nazareth, who thus wore the three body shells that were born with the Nathanic Jesus boy, and who carried the ego of Zarathustra within him until he was thirty years old, until the conversation with his mother that I told you about, where, through the power of the speech he gave at that time, and in whose words he let his own I flow, the I of Zarathustra, so to speak, left the physical bodies of this Jesus of Nazareth. And we know how, through the baptism of John in the Jordan, the Christ being entered into the threefold physical body of Jesus of Nazareth.
If we are now able to grasp it in this way, we truly gain no less, but an immensely greater impression of the significance of the Christ Jesus being than those who are only able to grasp it according to their previous knowledge and according to the messages of the Gospels, as these can be taken.
But this entire event, which we then call the Mystery of Golgotha together with the crucifixion and resurrection, is connected to three others. It is, in a sense, the provisional completion of the three others. One of these other events already took place in the ancient Lemurian epoch, one of the other two more toward the beginning of the Atlantean epoch, and the other more toward the end. However, these first three events did not take place on the physical plane, but in the spiritual worlds. We must look, as it were, with our soul, at four events, the last of which—the one we have been dealing with up to now, and which we call the Mystery of Golgotha—took place on the physical plane, while the other three were preparatory events in the spiritual worlds.
I have told you that the being we refer to as the Nathanic Jesus showed his very special nature in that he was able to speak a few words immediately after his birth, words that were spoken in such a strange language that it could not be understood at the time, and that only his mother, out of her own feeling, had an inkling of what these words meant. We must also be clear about this Nathanic Jesus boy that he is not a human being like other human beings, that he did not have many earthly lives behind him in the same way as, for example, the Solomonic Jesus boy, who had the I of Zarathustra within him, and like other human beings, but that he had spent his previous existence entirely in the spiritual worlds. I have already indicated this on previous occasions by saying that of what passed into human incarnations as human souls since the Lemurian epoch, something was retained, as it were, in the spiritual worlds, which did not lead to human embodiment, but which only led to human embodiment when it was born as the Nathanic Jesus Child. That which remained behind at that time, which cannot be called a human ego in the ordinary sense of the word—for a human ego is that which passes from incarnation to incarnation on earth—went through its destinies in the spiritual worlds. And only those members of the ancient mysteries who were able to observe the processes in the spiritual worlds could know that this being, who would one day appear as the Nathanic Jesus child, who was to be imbued with the Christ being, had to go through certain destinies in the spiritual worlds beforehand. In order to understand these destinies, we must bear the following in mind.
Most of you will remember the lectures given here a few years ago on anthroposophy, in which I first spoke about the human senses. I stated explicitly at that time that the five senses commonly enumerated are only a part of the total number of senses, and that human beings actually have twelve senses. I will not go into this in detail here. But it should be pointed out that what we call human senses, that is, what is embedded in our physical body as senses, would actually have been doomed to a fate that would have been disastrous for human beings if the first Christ event had not taken place in the spiritual worlds in the ancient Lemurian epoch, as it were the first precursor of the Mystery of Golgotha. During the Lemurian epoch, human beings were embodied in such a way that they essentially had the predisposition for their senses. But we also know that during the Lemurian epoch, the influence of the Luciferic forces on human evolution took place. This influence of the Luciferic forces extended to everything in the human organization. If nothing else had taken place other than what led human beings to their incarnation on Earth during the Lemurian period, and then the Luciferic influence, our senses would have become completely different from what they are now. These senses would have become, one might say, hypersensitive. They would have become such that we would not go through the world with our senses tempered, but rather, for example, the color red would have made such an impression on the human eye that the eye would have felt a very specific pain as a result of the impression of the red color. Other impressions would have affected the senses in other painful ways. The eye would have felt drained by the color blue, for example. And so it would have been with all the other senses. We would have had to go through the world in such a way that the senses would have been constantly affected in a painful way, or even in excessive and therefore also unhealthy pleasure. The senses would have been affected by all external influences more strongly than is beneficial for them. This would have come about through the Luciferic influence.
This has been averted from humanity, not by an event that took place in the physical realm of the earth, but by the process that is, in a sense, the first preparatory process for the Mystery of Golgotha. In the Lemurian era, the same Christ Being who later united with the body of Jesus of Nazareth through the baptism of John in the Jordan united with a being who was still in the spiritual worlds at that time: with the being who was later born as the Nathanic Jesus Child, but who was still in the spiritual worlds at that time. If we can say that the Christ being was embodied in Jesus of Nazareth during the events in Palestine, then we must say that, prior to this first Christ event, it was ensouled in the Lemurian era in the spiritual world in a being who later descended to earth as the Nathanic Jesus. Thus, a spiritual-soul being lived in the spiritual worlds which, through this act of connecting itself, that is, the Christ being with the soul of the later Jesus of Nazareth, and through everything that followed from this act, took away the evil from the human senses, that is, it shone down from the spiritual worlds upon humanity, so that the evil would not have become the senses, in such a painful or oversensitive way, having to go through life on earth. For the salvation of the senses, the first preparatory event of the mystery of Golgotha took place. The fact that we can go through the world in our present form with our senses is a consequence of this first Christ event.
At the beginning of the Atlantean epoch, a second event took place. It consisted again in the being who later became the Nathanic Jesus being imbued with the Christ Being. This averted another calamity from human nature. For even if the senses had been healed by the first Christ event, the Luciferic and later Ahrimanic influences would have made human nature such that the so-called seven life organs — I have also spoken of the seven life organs in my lectures on anthroposophy; they are vessel-like organs in the physical body, but what underlies them is actually an organization of the etheric body — would have become such that we would not be able to go through the world as human beings as we do now with sympathy and antipathy, but instead humans would have felt alternating wild greed and terrible disgust toward what they enjoy with their life organs, what can be food for them. But they would also have felt that whatever came into contact with their respiratory organs, they would either want to seize with wild greed or reject with deepest disgust. Thus, the seven organs of life would also have become overly active through the influence of Lucifer and Ahriman. Then the second Christ event occurred, again an event in the supersensible worlds. Through this, the organs of human life were given the possibility of being moderate in a certain sense. Just as our senses could never have viewed the world in wisdom if the first Christ event had not taken place in the Lemurian epoch, so our life organs could never have been moderate if the second Christ event had not taken place at the beginning of the Atlantean epoch.
But a third calamity was still in store for human beings, a calamity that affected their astral body, the distribution of thinking, feeling, and willing. Today, thinking, feeling, and willing are in a certain harmony in human beings, and when this harmony is destroyed, human health is destroyed. When thinking, feeling, and willing do not interact in the right measure, human beings either become overly hypochondriacal or descend into states of madness. Human beings could have descended into states of madness, with their thinking, feeling, and willing in complete disorder, if the third Christ event had not taken place toward the end of the Atlantean epoch. This resulted in the soul-infusion of the Christ into the Nathanic Jesus, who was still in the supersensible worlds, bringing moderate harmony into the soul forces of human beings, into their thinking, feeling, and willing.
These three events that I have now mentioned all worked into human beings from the spiritual worlds; they did not take place on the physical plane. But the third event in particular has been preserved in mythical representations. And as in many cases spiritual knowledge leads us to understand such signs that have been preserved in legends and myths in the right way, to deepen them in the right way, so it can also be with this sign. We are all familiar with this symbol, which represents a supernatural being — be it the archangel Michael or Saint George slaying the dragon. This is the pictorial representation of the third Christ event: the archangel Michael or Saint George, later the Nathanic Jesus child, imbued with the Christ being. That is why the archangelic figure exists in the spiritual worlds. And the overcoming of the dragon signifies the suppression of that which would confuse and disrupt thinking, feeling, and willing in human thinking, feeling, and willing—that is, in the passionate nature of human beings. One can deeply feel how, in such powerful images, which are set up, as it were, so that what cannot be grasped by the intellect can at least be presented to the human soul for symbolic contemplation and feeling, deep, deep connections are expressed.
We have mentioned on previous occasions how Greek culture, in its world of gods and spirits, had shadows, as it were, of what existed in the Atlantean era as real divine-spiritual beings in the world immediately above human beings. Now the Greeks had a clear awareness of precisely the third Christ event, the Christ event that is otherwise only represented figuratively for the human soul by Saint George or the Archangel Michael overcoming the dragon. The Greeks depicted Christ, who inspired the later Nathanic boy Jesus, as their Apollo. And in a deeply meaningful way, one might say, Saint George with the dragon is placed in the cosmos itself in Greece. The Greeks had that Castalian spring on Mount Parnassus, where a chasm opened up out of the earth and vapors rose from it. These vapors surrounded the mountain like snakes, so that in these vapors surrounding the mountain like snakes, one had an image of the wildly storming human passions that bring thinking, feeling, and willing into disorder. Above the chasm, at the place where these serpentine vapors emerged, where the Python lived, they built the oracle site dedicated to the Pythia. The Pythia sat on her tripod above this chasm and was brought into a visionary state by the rising vapors, and what she spoke in this state was interpreted as the utterance of Apollo himself. And those who sought advice sent to the Pythia and received counsel from Apollo through the mouth of the Pythia.
The Greeks therefore believed that Apollo could be traced back to a real being. Now we know who this being is. It is the later Nathanic Jesus boy, inspired by Christ, called Apollo by the Greeks. He takes away the Luciferic-Ahrimanic effect from what rises from the earth into the soul of the Pythia. And because the vapors rise from Apollo's sacrifice, they are no longer confusing, but wise, ordering thinking, feeling, and willing for the Greeks. Thus we see how the idea of Apollo in the Greeks contains that which lives in the thinking, feeling, and willing of human beings. Thus we have three Christ events in the supersensible worlds which actually prepare the event of Golgotha.
Thus we have three Christ events in the supersensible worlds that actually prepare the event of Golgotha. If we now ask ourselves about the meaning of the event of Golgotha itself: What was actually brought about by this event, what would have been thrown into disorder if the event of Golgotha had not taken place? — then we know that in the fourth post-Atlantean cultural epoch, the Greek-Latin period, humanity became ripe to develop the I. Initially, it was precisely that corner of the Western world that was ripe for developing the ego, which spread throughout Western Asia, Southern, and Central Europe. Specifically, the ego was to be developed through the clash between the Romanic peoples and the Germanic peoples in Central and Southern Europe. The ego was therefore to be developed in the fourth post-Atlantean epoch. But it would have developed in a disorderly manner. For just as the senses would have developed in a disorderly manner in the Lemurian epoch if the first Christ event had not occurred, just as the seven life organs would have developed incorrectly if the second Christ event had not occurred at the beginning of the Atlantean epoch, just as the three soul activities of the human being—thinking, feeling, and willing—would have developed in a disorderly manner if the third Christ event had not occurred toward the end of the Atlantic epoch, and the ego would have developed in a disorderly manner if the fourth Christ event, the mystery of Golgotha, had not occurred in the Greco-Latin epoch. For, as we have often emphasized, it was in the fourth post-Atlantean epoch that human beings attained the ego, the consciousness of the ego.
For those human beings who were not meant to attain this, a different kind of revelation was given first. For this is the characteristic difference between the Buddha revelation and the Christ revelation: the Buddha revelation was given to human beings who were not actually meant to become conscious of their I passing through incarnations. Those who do not understand this correctly do not understand Buddhism. I have often referred to a parable used in later Buddhism, which says that the true Buddhist regards what passes from one incarnation to another as comparable to the mango fruit, which, when placed in the earth, produces a new tree on which a new fruit grows. Name and form are all that the new mango fruit has in common with the old one. This is the characteristic feature of Buddhism, that there is no mention of a real self passing through incarnations. The reason why this was not mentioned is that a real self has not fully come to consciousness among the peoples of the East. Even today, we can see that when people who follow Eastern teachings try to understand Western worldviews, they cannot advance to the point where the self comes into play.
The ego was to be born among the peoples of the fourth post-Atlantean cultural period. However, it would have been born in a disordered state. That it would have been born in a disordered state is shown by a phenomenon that occurs very significantly in the fourth post-Atlantean period. The element of Greek philosophy stands as a significant expression of the birth of the ego. But as a concomitant of Greek philosophy, on the other hand, there is Sibyllism, that Sibyllism of which we must say: Sibyls are all those female beings who, unlike Pythia, were not harmonized in their soul life by Apollo, but allowed their revelations to work in disorder in their thinking, feeling, and willing. Through these Sibylline revelations, which existed from the 8th century BC and continued into the Middle Ages, something of the highest truths often flowed, but in a disordered manner, interspersed with all kinds of strange things. The Sibylline prophecies show in particular how the birth of ego-consciousness must initially have been confusing, how the ego would have emerged just as disordered as the twelve senses in the Lemurian epoch due to the Luciferic and Ahrimanic influences, like the seven life organs in the early Atlantean period and like the three soul organs in the later Atlantean period without the first three Christ events. Thus, in the post-Atlantean period, the I would have emerged in disorder if the mystery of Golgotha had not occurred.
Thus we see how this mystery of Golgotha descends step by step from a spiritual height, where it takes place as the first Christ event in the Lemurian epoch, until it reaches the physical plane, namely in our earthly mystery of Golgotha. This in turn can point us to the whole significance of this unique event for the evolution of the earth, can point us to how well prepared this unique event was from the spiritual worlds. The connection with the high sun being, which we have often emphasized in relation to the Christ being, is also evident in the Greek idea of Apollo, since Apollo is the sun god.
I have only sketched out what has been brought to light to fully explain the significance of the mystery of Golgotha. All these things could be explained in detail and would then reveal the immense cosmic magnitude of this mystery of Golgotha. In this way, we can approach the mystery of Golgotha from the perspective of the cosmos. But one can also approach it from another angle. This can be done in the following way.
Let us assume that a person enters the spiritual world through the gate of death or through initiation. And let us now assume that he enters the spiritual world through the gate of death. The first thing that happens is that the person sheds his physical body, as it were, as the outermost shell. This physical body is handed over to the earthly elements. Let us assume that, after passing through the gate of death, the human being looks back from the spiritual world in which he now finds himself upon the fate of his physical body, how it is handed over to the physical elements of the earth, decayed or burned. What a person sees in these processes, when looking back from the spiritual world at the fate of the physical body, could be called a natural event like any other natural event, an event to which moral concepts are applied as little as they are applied when clouds form and lightning flashes from one cloud to another and the like. Just as one views these natural phenomena, one must first view what is dissolving as the physical body. But we also know that the human being then remains connected to their etheric body for a few days and that a kind of second separation occurs, that of the etheric body from the astral body and from the ego.
When the human being then looks back at the detached etheric body, it already appears different in its processes than the detached physical body. Above all, after death, we cannot look at the etheric body from the spiritual world in such a way that we can see what the etheric body then is and what becomes of it as a natural phenomenon. That is not the case at all. Rather, this etheric body shows us in its own unique way, as if woven into it, what we carried within us as the dispositions of our soul until our death. If we have had good dispositions, this can be seen in the etheric body; if we have had malicious, bad dispositions, this can also be seen. Yes, one can see and feel, one might say, the whole ladder of good and bad feelings and sensations. All of this is expressed in it. We put our inner soul state, as it is, into the etheric body. This can be seen there, and it dissolves in a complicated way in the etheric world, is absorbed by it. When we look back on the fate of our etheric body, we are actually looking back on a reflection of what we ourselves were in our earthly life.
We can say something very special about what we see there. We can say to ourselves: If you had these or those good feelings, this or that devotion to the spiritual worlds, then you have given something to the general etheric cosmos that continues to work there as something good. If you have had bad feelings, bad emotions, and have not wanted to concern yourself with descriptions of the spiritual worlds, then you have given something to the etheric cosmos that causes damage and devastation in the etheric world.
It is part of the destiny of our soul, that is, of our astral body and our ego, to see what these are in the spiritual world, to see what one has done oneself in the destiny of one's etheric body, which can no longer be changed once it is detached from the physical body. It is even the most important sight one has after death. Just as one previously had the view of clouds, mountains, and so on in the sensory world, so now after death one has, as a background, the view of what one has placed in one's etheric body through one's soul state and one's attitudes. This becomes larger and larger the further the etheric body dissolves, and actually becomes like the firmament on which everything else appears. It is therefore part of human destiny after death to observe the destinies of the etheric body.
There is something else that becomes apparent here: this etheric body that dissolves actually has, one might say, two properties. One property is connected with something that, in essence, always makes a depressing, saddening impression after death. What this characteristic is connected with will become clear to us if we consider the fate of the physical earth.
This fate of the physical earth is already recognized by physicists today. Physicists recognize as true that the earth, as a physical being, will one day succumb to what is called heat death. The relationship between heat and the other physical forces of the Earth is such that at some point in the future — this is already a physical fact — everything will have changed into a kind of uniform heat. Then there will be nothing left that could happen on Earth in the physical realm. The whole Earth will have succumbed to heat death.
Those who are materialists must naturally assume as a matter of course — for otherwise they are not consistent — that with this heat death everything, including what they call human culture, human thinking, feeling, and striving, must cease, that the whole of human life must disappear in the uniform heat of the Earth. Those who understand the conditions as they can be explained by spiritual science know that this heat death means that the physical earth will fall away from its spiritual element, which belongs to it, just as the human physical corpse falls away from what passes through the gate of death. And just as the human corpse remains behind with death from the spiritual-soul life of the human being, which passes through an intermediate state between death and new birth, and just as the human being passes from one state to another, so the spiritual life of the earth will pass over into a Jupiter existence when its earthly existence comes to an end with heat death. This Jupiter existence will be a further embodiment of everything that is spiritually connected with the earth.
When we look back after death to the etheric body, we really notice, through a certain sensation that we have toward this etheric body, that some of the properties of the etheric body are connected with everything within the earthly realm that is subject to heat death, that is dissolving. Such forces are in our etheric body, which are the active forces that lead the earth into heat death. But other forces are still there.
A second kind of force can be observed in this etheric body, and these forces behave toward everything earthly as if one were looking at a plant germ and seeing how the plant germ is surrounded by a plant substance from which the next plant arises anew. In a similar way, one sees in the etheric body: there are forces that must remain active for the earth as long as the earth exists, until the earth falls into heat death. But then there are young forces within it that are connected with what the earth contains in the cosmos as seed, to be carried over to the next incarnation of the earth. But this germ-like part of the etheric body can only be seen — and here we touch again on a very important secret of spiritual science — if one has attained a certain relationship to the Christ Being, to the Christ impulse. For this part is permeated by the Christ forces that poured out into the spiritual sphere of the earth through the Mystery of Golgotha. They are there, in this part. For these Christ forces represent what also carries over from human beings to Jupiter. This enables us to see our connection with the Christ impulse, the germinative, the future-oriented in our etheric body.
When viewed in this way, we can be certain that what has often been mentioned has indeed flowed out of the mystery of Golgotha into the earthly sphere, and that it has something to do with the revival of the entire spiritual realm of the earth, in which we ourselves are embedded as human beings. And among the experiences that a human being must have, who has a proper consciousness of the I, as the modern Western human being has, is precisely this: after death, when looking at one's etheric body, not to see this etheric body without the permeation of the Christ impulse. For it is an unhappy life after death if, when looking at one's etheric body, one must do without the permeation of the etheric body with the Christ impulse. That is why I have always pointed out that Christ came to earth as a fact, and that even those people who today still resist the Christ impulse with their higher consciousness will gradually find access to it, even if they find it perhaps one or two incarnations later than the population of the Western cultural regions of the earth.
What constitutes human bliss after death is to have the certainty of the Christ impulse in the sight of one's etheric body. What constitutes human unhappiness after death is to perceive in the etheric body only that which must, so to speak, perish with the death of the earth. For those human beings who, through their Western culture, have a clear sense of self—Eastern people do not yet have this clear sense of self—for those human beings who are born with the clear sense of self that Western peoples have, it is quite unhappy to look at their etheric body and see only the forces that are destructive for earthly evolution, without being able to see that the Christ impulse is present there as a substance. It is like having to live after death under the constant impression of an earthquake or a volcanic eruption if one cannot see the young germ forces of the Christ impulse in the etheric body.
What are these young germ forces of the Christ impulse? Well, I have already mentioned one aspect of this on various occasions over the years. We have spoken about the role played by blood in the physical body of Christ Jesus. Blood is one of the physical substances of the body, and for the ordinary human body it belongs to that which physically dissolves into the elements at death. This was not the case, at least not with the part of the blood of Christ Jesus that flowed from his wounds onto the earth at Golgotha. This part of the blood became etherized, was truly absorbed by the etheric forces of the earth, so that the blood that flowed from the wounds at that time became etheric substance. And this etheric substance glows, illuminates, and shimmers in the etheric body and—one senses this after death—reveals itself in such a way that the human being knows: There is fresh, germinating life that leads human beings toward a viable future.
The ingredients enter the etheric body from yet another source, which can show us how fresh and powerful the life within is. The Fifth Gospel in particular shows — and this is one of the great impressions one gains when one follows what is given in the Fifth Gospel — that after the body of Christ Jesus was laid in the tomb, something really happened which ultimately enabled things to be as they are so wonderfully and precisely described in the Gospel of John: how the tomb was empty and how the cloths lay around it. That is how it was. The Fifth Gospel shows us this. It was so because a wave-like earthquake had taken place, causing the earth to split open. The body of Christ Jesus fell into this crevice. The crevice then closed again. And through the wave-like movement and storming, the burial cloths were actually thrown around as they are described in the Gospel of John in the description of the empty tomb. This is the great, heart-moving impression one gets when one learns these things through the Fifth Gospel and then finds confirmation in the Gospel of John.
Something else also entered the etheric body: What was taken up by the earth's fissure permeated what we have called the blood flickering and glittering in the ether substance, and through this the flickering and glittering blood becomes visible in the etheric body, so that one has the sensation—I said earlier: the etheric body spreads out after death and one sees it like a kind of firmament, from which everything else stands out, stretching out in this spreading ether body like a basic substance of the body, the bloodless body of Christ Jesus, which was absorbed by the crack in the earth and thus passed into the earth and appears in the stretched-out tableau of the ether body as animating it.
And this sight gives us the certainty that humanity does not perish, but lives on as the spiritual content of the earth when the physical part of the earth falls away, just as the individual human corpse falls away from the spiritual part of the human being. The I and the astral body are certainly such that they guarantee freedom and immortality to human beings. But human beings would continue to live alone. They would arrive on Jupiter and not be suited to life there if what had been attained on Earth were not carried over to Jupiter: if what had been brought into the Earth sphere through the Christ impulse were not carried over.
One can say that individual human beings would hardly be any richer than they were in the Lemurian epoch if they were to pass over into Jupiter; they would pass over into Jupiter impoverished if they were not embedded in an Earth sphere that has been permeated by Christ. And this poverty, which would give the impression that earthly life is actually lost, would stand before human beings as something unfortunate in the life between death and new birth, whereas what the Christ impulse has made of the spiritual part of the earth gives the soul bliss in the life between death and new birth: Yes, everything the soul can experience after the Mystery of Golgotha comes through what has flowed out through the Christ impulse into the spiritual atmosphere of the Earth!