The Presence of the Dead
GA 154
17 April 1914, Berlin
Appendix I. Faith and Knowledge
Notes from a lecture given in Prague 0The following two lectures differ in character and content from the preceding five. In both, Rudolf Steiner approaches the central theme from a much wider perspective. In addition, “Faith and Knowledge” is not a complete, word for word, record of a lecture but notes summarizing what Steiner said. Therefore, the two lectures have been placed in the appendix.
Given the large amount of literature available, it is always possible to learn about the findings of spiritual science, particularly when anthroposophical groups work together. Since we are together now, I would like to discuss some guiding ideas out of spiritual impulses, ideas that continue in a more esoteric way what we spoke about more generally in yesterday's public lecture.1Lecture of April 16, 1914, entitled “Wie findet die Menschenseele ihre wahre Wesenheit?” (“How Can the Human Soul Find Its True Essence?”).
Many people today still believe in the contrast between faith and knowledge, faith and cognition. They say science can tell us about the world outside us, the only one we can know of with certainty. However, concerning the spiritual world, we must have faith. This attitude appears to contradict spiritual science, which strives to give us real knowledge of and insight into the spiritual world. In fact, it has to enter souls in our time in just this form, as insight and knowledge. In earlier incarnations our souls were in a completely different condition than now. They were more primitive, but in those times there were great individuals and many people connected with them. Those individuals conveyed ideas of the spiritual world, which we can still find in certain tribes and peoples and trace to individuals such as Hermes, Zarathustra, Moses, Buddha, and Krishna.2Hermes, the ancient Greek herald and messenger of the gods. See also Lecture Three, note 5. Spiritual ideas had to be poured into people's souls.
In the physical world life is not just toil and work, but slaving and drudgery. Most of this toil and work is not in the sense of “it's been a hard day's work,” but in the sense of unconscious occurrences caused by our thinking—in fact, our whole soul life as it takes its course.
We are all much more alike when we are born than we think. We do not resemble each other in our appearance, but in our structure. The forces at work in a child are active at an unconscious level. The spirit takes hold of the body and structures it. Only then does the sculpting and elaborating of the nerves begin. This happens independently of our mind, at a time when we are not yet able to use it. Then we become aware of ourselves as an I. That is when the wisdom we have brought with us from the gods, from the spiritual world, ceases.
In the first period after birth, we have only life forces, so to speak; our life then is nothing but a continuation of the spiritual world. Death in infancy is due to external bodily causes, and the child's soul plays no part in it.
Then we begin to deplete our physical bodies with every thought, every feeling. We must sleep to make up for what we have depleted during the day. If we did not thus eat away at our physical organization, we would have a budding and burgeoning life. Our etheric body always wants to bud and to sprout, but the astral body needs to consume what the etheric body builds up, and thus suppresses it. When we are sleeping, compensation for what has been eaten away and killed off flows into us from the spiritual world to reestablish the balance. The normal amount of sleep replaces exactly as much as has been depleted. If we decided to sleep more, as some retired people do, we would sleep too much. Of course, that is no objection to sleeping a lot. Since intellectual work takes a lot out of our physical organization, people doing that kind of work need much sleep. But if we sleep too much, we have too many new life forces and these then begin to proliferate; the human being then abounds with life forces. This surplus of life forces leads to illness. So if we want to do more than merely make up for what we depleted through our daily work and advance spiritually, we have to consciously take what we need from the spiritual world.
The founders of our religions believed it was their task to lead their people, to use up life forces, which will then be compensated for. However, what has to develop within us for the progress of humanity must be consciously drawn from the spiritual world so that it will not die in our physical existence.
That is why the founders of our religions provided ideas they had received from the spiritual world. These truly spiritual thoughts nourish our soul and maintain it. It would be the death of our soul if it always had to live in thoughts taken only from the physical world. In earlier times, religious beliefs were such spiritual thoughts human souls need. That phase of our development has been completed, and we live now in a time when we on earth will gradually lose the ability to take in what speaks only to our emotions, our faith. We can still preserve this faith for a time, galvanizing it, so to speak, but we cannot keep it for the future. The principle “I believe” has to be replaced with “I believe what I know.” People will begin to feel that this new principle must be applied. Otherwise we deny ourselves any possibility of knowing something about the life between death and a new birth. Then we would return to pitiful conditions in our next incarnation. Enthusiasm for other ideals, all clearly justified, is certainly a good thing and has to exist. However, in comparison with the foundations of spiritual science, these ideals cannot be put into practice directly. Lacking its knowledge, they can only be precursors of spiritual science.
As we progress in our spiritual research, we will feel the need to remain silent rather than to speak. If we speak nevertheless, it is out of insight into the conditions necessary for our time. Knowledge alone will make us free, and it is the task of the future to win the freedom of the human soul.
Thoughts of great spiritual power came from the founders of our religions. They were thoughts of faith that could wonderfully illuminate the region beyond death. These ideas were transformed into a true, spiritual light that revealed the environment beyond death to human beings. But the time will come when we will have to live in freedom. And even if new religious leaders were still to proclaim the old teachings of faith with the voice and the power of the gods, we would no longer understand them. We are experiencing this now. The sciences concerned with the outer world have arrived, as they had to. A great contemporary scientist, Max Müller, said that if an angel were to come down and proclaim news of the spiritual world, people would not understand or believe him.3Max Müller, 1823–1900, German orientalist, linguist, and religious scholar, professor of philology at Oxford. Literally: “A change is to take place, a transformation of such magnitude that even if angels came down and announce it, we would understand it as little as an infant would understand what we told it about the world in our language,” in Leben und Religion (“Life and Religion”), Stuttgart, n.y.
That is the development of humanity. It seems to lead inevitably to the loss of our ability to imbue ourselves with thoughts related to the spiritual worlds. That would mean we would have less light after death to illuminate our spiritual environment by ourselves. After all, no sun will shine from the outside on the world around us then, the light has to come from us. We then take the place of the sun and illuminate our surroundings after death. People unable to do this will have to return and repeat life on earth to assimilate thoughts and ideas that are fruitful for their existence after death. When we understand this, more than the usual enthusiasm for spreading spiritual science will loosen our tongue and prompt us to speak. Believing in what we know—that will be the need of humanity in the future.
In ancient times, religious ideas, myths, and fairy tales gave souls light for the spiritual world. It is easy to say that myths and fairy tales developed in the childhood stages of the human race. Of course, people did not physically meet the angels that myths and fairy tales speak about. But thinking based on philosophy will be of little use in the spiritual world where such knowledge has no meaning. It is easy to say fairy tales are not based on truth. Spiritual researchers are not so naive, and know that fiery dragons do not really fly through the air. However, they always knew it was necessary to form the Imagination of the fiery dragon, for when it lives in the soul, it casts light on the spiritual world. These are powerful Imaginations. That is the principle behind all myths; they are not intended to reflect external reality accurately, but to enable us to live in the spiritual world.
Materialists say myths and fairy tales originated in the childhood stage of the human race. But in its childhood, humanity was taught by the gods. In the process of our evolution, myths and fairy tales are gradually lost, but children should not grow up without them. It makes a tremendous difference whether or not children are allowed to grow up with fairy tales. The power of the fairy tale images, which give wings to the soul, becomes apparent only at a later age. Growing up without fairy tales leads later to boredom, to world-weariness. Indeed, it can even cause physical symptoms—fairy tales can help to prevent illnesses. The qualities that seep into our soul from fairy tales later emerge as a zest for life, enthusiasm for being alive, and an ability to cope with life, all of which can be seen even in old age. Children have to experience the power of the content of fairy tales while they are young and can still do so. People who cannot live with ideas that have no reality on the physical plane will be dead to the spiritual world. Philosophies based only on the material world are the death of our soul. Physical evolution leads to the death of the spiritual world. We must reach a view of the world based not on appearances, but resting solidly on its own inherent structure. We have to move toward the principle: I believe what I know.
We have to learn to pay attention to the symptoms of our cultural life. For example, I once gave a lecture in a town in southern Germany, and afterward two Catholic priests came up to me and said that I was only speaking to educated people, while they spoke so everyone could understand them. In reality, the opposite is the case. Anthroposophy can reach everyone provided we find the way to the simple, ordinary people. The farmer would understand it much better than the so-called educated person if only the way were not blocked by social conventions. In these matters, we must be able to leave ourselves completely out of the picture and not ask what we think best. Instead, we must ask what human souls require in a given era. So I replied to the priests that while their feeling tells them they speak to everyone, the facts will tell them they do not, because not everyone comes to hear them. And it is to those who do not come to them that I speak.
On earth we gain knowledge and insight through our physical and etheric bodies. Let us examine carefully how much of what is in our soul comes from the physical world. Light, for example, reaches us through the eyes. The process of seeing is one of deterioration right from its start in the eyes. The deterioration starts directly at the retina. The process detaches itself from life. In the morning, after sleep, our eyes have been restored and are filled with pure life. However, as we perceive, something forms in the living tissue that is no longer alive but only mineral. And we perceive the outer world, which is mirrored in us, because this process continues in the nerve tissue. Thus, insofar as the physical body is the bearer of these processes, it is not alive.
The etheric body is the bearer of thoughts that are also mirror images. People could easily discover that our thoughts reflect the super-sensible. Thoughts will never lend themselves to inspection under the microscope because in reality they live in the etheric body. They are formed by our thinking, which is mirrored in the physical body. We can see from this that understanding and knowledge are dependent on the physical and etheric bodies, which are affected only by the impressions of the physical world. Completely different thoughts have to take hold in our soul, in our astral body, and all our feeling, willing, and thinking not limited to the physical plane. Otherwise we will remain inwardly dead. All thoughts that represent objects are meaningful only on the physical plane. This is implied in the very question, “Are thoughts that do not represent objects justified?” Only with the thoughts living freely in the spirit, living freely in the astral body and the I can we gain insight, only with those thoughts can we live. These thoughts not only represent things, but are also inwardly active and alive; they create something out of themselves and out of us.
In modern art, naturalism predominates these days. In ancient times the soul was filled with images that brought activity into the thoughts of the astral body. Everything depicting only outer things is meaningless in the spiritual world. We must imbue ourselves with new images that can once again meaningfully permeate our soul. Often we take hold of something we believe to exist only in our imagination, to be only fantasy. This is frequently only a memory of something originating on the physical plane. We can revitalize what would otherwise die in our soul only by enlivening our images with thoughts that do not originate on the physical level and are not created by that kind of imagination.
People increasingly misuse the phrase: A beautiful soul in a beautiful body, a healthy soul in a healthy body. This phrase was appropriate for the understanding of earlier times. Unfortunately, today it is seen as a statement of cause; if someone has a healthy body, people conclude that a healthy soul lives in it. Whatever makes the body healthy will do the same for the soul.
If people do not develop thoughts that keep the astral body inwardly agile, they will suffer from mineral deposits even in childhood and as a result become ill later in life. And the world they enter after death will remain dark, because they do not radiate any light themselves. The rays of the sun strike a surface and that is how we see things. But in the spiritual world we are the source of light; we illuminate the surroundings we are supposed to see. Souls feeling the need to pursue spiritual science may not be aware of these circumstances, but they live in the depths of the soul. Just as in the physical world sunlight comes from the outside, so we must make ourselves sunlike in the spiritual world. We have to light in ourselves the spiritual fuel, the inner flame, to illuminate the realm of the spirit.
Physicists imagine the red of a rose can be traced to oscillation, to variations in wavelength. People say there is really no sound, only vibrations of air. They claim what we hear as sound exists only in our ears. Well, a simple experiment can teach us otherwise, namely, if we have someone wake us up by knocking on the door. We will notice that we were not conscious during the night when we were asleep, but that on waking up we were already living in the knocking. We ourselves have to enter into the knocking sound. We use the other person to do the knocking because our soul itself cannot do it. If we resolved firmly to wake up, we could do so, but this way we are only using the other person as a tool.
If materialist views continue to persist for several generations more, the red of roses will really disappear. People will actually see little gray atoms vibrating as an atomic whirl, not because they have to see them or because they exist, but because they will have trained themselves to see them. That is why it is necessary to spread spiritual science, to prevent having to live in a future filled with nothing other than physical atoms swirling around.
We are not talking about the physical ether but the one that is living thought. We must realize first of all that a rose is not a mass of whirling atoms, but that behind it there are real living and interweaving elemental beings. The theory of the spiritual world is secondary; the main thing is to concentrate our feeling, to feel ourselves living and weaving in our new perception of the reality of the spiritual world. This is the resurrection of the spiritual world in our souls, the truly ecumenical Easter event.
Our ancestors required a different event that was connected to the time when the sun reaches its zenith. When everything in nature was budding and blossoming, they experienced an ecstasy that reaffirmed for them the existence of the spiritual world. What they experienced then at St. John's Tide we now have to experience in the spring, at Easter. We have to be able to celebrate the awakening of the soul, the resurrection of the soul, when spiritual science speaks to us not merely as a theory, but as living knowledge.
Glauben Und Wissen Johannifest Und Osterfest
Sich bekanntzumachen mit den Ergebnissen der Geisteswissenschaft ist bei der reichlichen Literatur, die vorhanden ist, immer möglich, wenn die anthroposophischen Gruppen miteinander arbeiten. Da wir, wie jetzt, so beisammen sind, will ich einiges unmittelbar aus den Impulsen der geistigen Welt heraus Orientierendes besprechen, was mehr esoterisch anknüpft an dasjenige, was gestern mehr exoterisch im öffentlichen Vortrag gesprochen worden ist.
Es gibt heute noch viele Menschen, die an dem alten Gegensatz von Glauben und Wissen, Glauben und Erkennen festhalten. Sie sagen: Die Wissenschaft kann uns unterrichten über die Dinge der äußeren Welt, darüber kann man etwas Sicheres wissen. Mit den Dingen der geistigen Welt muß der Glaube uns in Zusammenhang bringen. — Dies ist, wie es scheint, im Widerspruch mit der Geisteswissenschaft, die ein wirkliches Wissen, ein Erkennen der geistigen Welt geben will. Gerade in dieser Form des Erkennens, des Wissens, muß sie hereindringen in die Seelen unserer Gegenwart. Unsere eigenen Seelen waren in einer früheren Inkarnation in einer ganz anderen Lage, als wir jetzt sind. Sie waren mehr primitiv, aber es gab damals große Individualitäten, und solche, die mit ihnen in Beziehung gestanden haben. Sie gaben Vorstellungen über die übersinnliche Welt. Wir finden das bei den einzelnen Stämmen und Völkern, was von diesen Individualitäten, wie Hermes, Zarathustra, Moses, Buddha, Krishna herrührt. Geistige Vorstellungen mußten den Seelen eingeflößt werden.
Wir leben auf dem physischen Plan. Das Leben auf dem physischen Plan ist nicht nur Mühe und Arbeit, sondern Abmühen und Abarbeiten. Und das meiste Mühen und Arbeiten ist durchaus nicht im Sinne des «nach des Tages Müh’ und Arbeit», sondern im Sinne desjenigen, was unbewußt vor sich geht und das eigentlich bewirkt wird durch unser Denken, unser ganzes Seelenleben, wie es auf dem physischen Plan sich vollzieht.
Bei dem Kinde wirken die Kräfte unbewußt. Das Geistige ergreift den Organismus. Dieser wird durchorganisiert. Wenn wir geboren werden, sind wir einander viel gleicher, als wir unmittelbar meinen. Die Menschen gleichen sich nicht äußerlich, aber in der Struktur. Dann erst beginnt das Ausmeißeln, das Ausziselieren unserer Nerven. Das geht ohne unseren Verstand vor sich, geht vor sich, wenn wir diesen Verstand noch gar nicht handhaben können. Dann kommt die Zeit, wo wir beginnen, uns als ein Ich zu fühlen. Da hört die andere Weisheit auf, die wir von den Göttern, aus der geistigen Welt, mitbringen. In dieser ersten Zeit haben wir sozusagen nur Lebenskräfte; es ist nur ein Fortsetzen der geistigen Welt. Ein Kind, das da stirbt, stirbt nur durch äußere Gründe des Leibes. Es ist nicht mit der Seele daran beteiligt. Dann beginnt die Zeit, wo der Mensch anfängt, mit jedem Gedanken, mit jeder Empfindung zu zehren an der äußeren Organisation. Deshalb muß er in Schlaf versinken, als Ausgleich für das, was wir verzehren während des Taglebens. Würden wir nicht verzehren, würden wir ein sprossendes Leben haben. Der Ätherleib hat immer das Bedürfnis, zu sprossen und zu fruchten, aber der Astralleib hat das Bedürfnis, abzuzehren das, was der Ätherleib aufbaut. Er unterdrückt den Ätherleib. Während wir unbewußt im Schlafe sind, strömt ein aus den geistigen Welten das, was Ersatz schaffen kann für das, was abgezehrt wurde, was ertötet worden ist, damit es immer wiederum ausgeglichen werde. Der normale Schlaf gleicht immer nur soviel aus, als gerade weggezehrt worden ist. Würde der Mensch den Schlaf willkürlich verlängern, wie es mancher Rentner tun kann, würde er zuviel schlafen. Das ist kein Einwand gegen viel Schlaf. Gerade weil die geistige Arbeit viel zehrt an der physischen Organisation, braucht der geistige Arbeiter viel Schlaf. Aber zuviel Schlaf gibt zuviel neue Lebenskraft, die dann wuchert, richtig wuchert, so daß der Mensch strotzt von Lebenskraft. Solche überwuchernde Lebenskraft ist zugleich Krankheit, führt zu Krankheit selbstverständlich. Das, was der einzelne Mensch sich nun zuführen soll, damit er nicht nur ausgleicht die Arbeit des Tages, sondern geistig weiterkommt, das muß er bewußt aus der geistigen Welt herausholen. Die Religionsstifter konnten sich sagen: Mir ist auferlegt, zu führen, Lebenskraft aufzuzehren, das wird ausseglichen. Was aber im Menschen sich entwickeln soll, damit die Menschheit weiterkommt, damit dasselbe nicht erstirbt im physischen Erdendasein, das muß bewußt aus der geistigen Welt herausgeholt werden. — Daher haben die Religionsstifter Vorstellungen gegeben, die sie aus der geistigen Welt herausholten. Diese wirklich geistigen Vorstellungen sind die Nahrung der Seele. Sie sind es allein, welche das wirklich Seelische im Menschen aufrechterhalten. Es bedeutete für die Seelen den Tod, wenn sie nicht leben könnten in solchen Vorstellungen, die nicht aus der physischen Welt entnommen wurden. Das waren in früherer Zeit die Glaubensvorstellungen. Dieser Zyklus ist bei der Menschheit abgelaufen, und wir leben jetzt in der Zeit, in welcher die Menschen auf dem physischen Plan immer weniger die Fähigkeit haben werden, aufzunehmen, was nur zu ihrem Gemüt, ihrem Glauben spricht. Man kann diesen Glauben noch für einige Zeit konservieren, sozusagen galvanisieren, aber nicht mehr für die Zukunft festhalten. Anstelle des Grundsatzes: Ich glaube -, muß kommen: Ich glaube, was ich weiß. — Das werden die Menschen schon fühlen, daß dieser Grundsatz gelten muß. Sonst verliert man alle Möglichkeit, noch etwas zu wissen von dem Leben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt. Die Menschen würden in Jjammervolle Zustände in der nächsten Inkarnation zurückkommen. Alle Begeisterung für sonstige Ideale, die noch so sehr berechtigt sein können, ist gewiß sehr schön, sie muß da sein. Verglichen mit dem, was der Geisteswissenschaft zugrunde liegt, lassen sie sich aber nicht unmittelbar realisieren. Sie können nur Vorläufer der Geisteswissenschaft sein, aber ohne ihr Wissen.
In dem Geistesforscher bildet sich immer, wenn er vorrückt, das Bedürfnis heraus, nicht zu reden, sondern zu schweigen. Wenn er trotzdem spricht, ist es aus der Erkenntnis der Bedingungen, die der Zeit notwendig sind. Erkenntnis allein macht den Menschen frei, und Freiheit der Menschenseele zu erringen, ist gewiß die Aufgabe der Menschen in die Zukunft hinein.
Innerliche Vorstellungen, die große geistige Spannkraft gaben, kamen von den Religionsstiftern. Es waren Glaubensvorstellungen, die in wunderbarer Weise das Gebiet nach dem "Tode erhellen konnten. Sie wandelten sich in echtes, wahres Geisteslicht, das den Menschen ihre Umgebung post mortem zeigte. Aber Zeiten kommen, wo die Menschen in Freiheit werden leben müssen. Und wenn auch Religionsstifter kommen würden, die im Sinne der alten Glaubenslehren mit Götterstimme und mit Götterkraft reden könnten, die Menschen würden sie nicht mehr verstehen können. Wir haben es ja schon erlebt. Die äußere Wissenschaft ist gekommen, mußte kommen. Ein großer Wissenschafter unserer Zeit, Max Müller, sagte: Und wenn ein Engel heruntersteigen würde und würde den Menschen die Dinge von der geistigen Welt verkündigen, die Menschen würden ihn nicht verstehen können und niemals daran glauben. — Diese Entwickelung nimmt die Menschheit. Dann bliebe eigentlich nur das übrig, daß die Menschen verlören die Möglichkeit, überhaupt mit Vorstellungen sich zu durchdringen, die auf die geistigen Welten gehen. Das bedeutet aber, weniger Licht haben nach dem Tode, um die geistige Umwelt von sich aus zu beleuchten. Keine äußere Sonne beleuchtet uns dann die Außenwelt, das Licht muß von uns kommen. Wir stehen in der Sonne und beleuchten unsere Umgebung nach dem Tode. Menschen, die nicht leuchten, müssen nochmals herunterkommen und das Leben wiederholen, um Vorstellungen, die fruchtbar sind für das Leben nach dem Tode, aufzunehmen. Wenn man das durchschaut, wirkt nicht bloß die gewöhnliche Begeisterung für die Verbreitung der Geisteswissenschaft, die die Worte von der Zunge löst. Glauben, was man weiß -, das wird das Bedürfnis der kommenden Menschheit sein. In alten Zeiten waren die religiösen Vorstellungen, auch Mythen und Märchendichtungen das, was den Seelen Licht gab für die Geisteswelt. Es ist leicht zu sagen, die Mythen und Märchen sind Vorstellungen, die den Kindheitsstufen der Menschheit entsprungen sind. Gewiß haben die Menschen den Engeln nicht physisch gegenübergestanden, von denen die Mythen und Märchen gesprochen haben. Aber mit dem Nachdenken durch Philosophie ist in der geistigen Welt nichts anzufangen. Dieses Wissen hat keine Bedeutung in den geistigen Welten. Es ist leicht zu sagen, Märchen beruhen auf keiner Wahrheit. So gescheit ist der Geistesforscher auch immer gewesen, daß er gewußt hat, daß feurige Drachen nicht durch die physische Luft fliegen, aber gewußt hat er immer, daß die Imagination des feurigen Drachen zu bilden notwendig ist. Denn indem diese Vorstellung in der Seele ist, wirft sie Geisteslicht auf die geistige Welt. Kraftvorstellungen sind das. So sind alle Mythen beschaffen, weniger um äußerlich abzubilden, sondern um in der geistigen Welt wirklich leben zu können. Die Materialisten sagen: Mythen und Märchen entspringen der Kindheitsstufe der Menschheit. — Aber die Menschen wurden eben in ihrer Kindheit von Göttern unterrichtet. Die Mythen und Märchen gehen so in dieser Weise der Menschheitsevolution verloren, aber die Kinder sollte man nicht so aufwachsen lassen. Es ist ein großer Unterschied, ob man das Kind mit oder ohne Märchen aufwachsen läßt. Die die Seele beschwingende Kraft der Märchenbilder tritt erst später hervor. In einem Lebensüberdruß zeigt es sich später, wenn nicht Märchen gegeben wurden, in einer Langeweile. Ja sogar physisch kommt es zum Ausdruck, auch gegen Krankheiten können Märchen helfen. Was durch die Märchen hineingeträufelt wird, das kommt als Lebensfroheit, Lebenssinn später heraus, kommt als Möglichkeit, mit dem Leben fertigzuwerden, noch im spätesten Alter zum Vorschein. Es müssen die Kinder in ihrer Jugend, wo sie sie noch erleben können, erleben die Kraft des Märcheninhaltes. Wer nicht vermag mit Vorstellungen zu leben, die für den physischen Plan keine Wirklichkeit haben, der stirbt für die geistige Welt. Und viele Philosophien, die sich nur stützen wollen auf den physischen Plan, sind Sterbemittel für die Seele. Aus der äußeren Evolution werden die Sterbemittel für die geistige Welt. Die Menschheit muß kommen zu einem Urteil, das nicht gestützt ist auf Äußeres, sondern in sich selbst sich stützt. Immer mehr muß sie kommen zu dem: Ich glaube, was ich weiß.
Aber man wird lernen müssen, auf die Symptome des geistigen Lebens zu achten. Ein Beispiel soll hier gegeben werden. Als ich einmal in einer süddeutschen Stadt einen Vortrag hielt, kamen nachher zwei katholische Pfarrer zu mir, die sagten: Sie reden nur für die Gebildeten, wir aber sprechen für alle Menschen. — In Wahrheit ist das Gegenteil der Fall. Man kann Anthroposophie allen Menschen bringen, wenn man nur den Weg findet zu den einfachsten Gemütern. Viel besser würde der Bauer sie verstehen als der sogenannte Gebildete, wenn nur nicht der Weg durch die sozialen Verhältnisse verbaut wäre. Man muß bei solchen Dingen ganz von sich selbst absehen können, nicht fragen, was man selbst für das Richtige hält, sondern was die Menschenseelen einer gewissen Zeit fordern. So mußte ich den Priestern erwidern: Ihr Gefühl sagt Ihnen, Sie sprechen für alle Menschen, aber die Tatsachen sagen Ihnen, Sie sprechen nicht für alle Menschen, weil zu Ihnen nicht alle kommen. Und für die, die nicht zu Ihnen kommen, für die spreche ich.
Unser Wissen und unsere Erkenntnis eignen wir uns an auf dem physischen Plan durch den physischen Leib und den Ätherleib. Bedenken wir überhaupt einmal so recht gründlich, wieviel von dem, was in unserer Seele ist, von dem physischen Plan herkommt. Das Licht zum Beispiel kommt durch das Auge, der Prozeß, der sich da vollzieht, beginnt schon im Auge ein Zersetzungsprozeß zu sein. An der Hinterwand des Auges beginnt schon die Auflösung. Der Prozeß löst sich aus dem Leben heraus. Am Morgen, nach dem Schlaf, ist das Auge so hergestellt, daß es innen lauteres Leben ist. Durch das Wahrnehmen bildet sich aus dem lebendigen Gewebe etwas heraus, was nicht mehr lebt, sondern bloß noch mineralisch ist. Und dadurch, daß sich das fortsetzt durch das Nervengewebe, dadurch nehmen wir wahr, spiegelt sich, was von der äußeren Welt auf uns wirkt. So daß der physische Leib dadurch, als Träger dieser Prozesse, nichts Lebendiges ist.
Der Ätherleib ist der Träger der Gedanken, die auch Spiegelungen sind. Die Menschen würden leicht darauf kommen können, daß Gedanken Spiegelungen eines Übersinnlichen sind. Unter einem Mikroskop werden niemals Gedanken sich präparieren lassen. Gedanken leben in Wahrheit im Ätherleib. Es prägt sie das Denken aus, und das wird im physischen Leib gespiegelt. Daraus kann man ersehen, daß Erkenntnis, Wissen abhängt vom physischen Leib und Ätherleib. Zum physischen und Ätherleib sprechen nur die Eindrücke vom physischen Plan. Andere Vorstellungen aber müssen in der Menschenseele Platz greifen. Sie müssen auch den astralischen Leib ergreifen, das ganze Fühlen und Wollen und das Denken, das nicht nur auf dem physischen Plan sich erschöpft. Der Mensch bleibt sonst innerlich tot. Alle Vorstellungen, die etwas abbilden, haben nur Bedeutung für den physischen Plan. Schon die Frage: Ist eine Vorstellung berechtigt, die nicht etwas abbildet? — besagt das. Allein die Vorstellungen, die frei im Geiste leben, die frei leben im astralischen Leib und im Ich, mit denen erkennt man nicht nur, sondern man lebt mit ihnen. Das sind Vorstellungen, die nicht nur etwas abbilden, sondern die innerlich regsam, lebendig sind, die etwas aus sich und aus uns machen.
In der Kunst herrscht heute der Naturalismus. Es ist sehr notwendig, sich einmal mit alten Zeiten bekanntzumachen, wie Seelenvorstellungen da waren, die die Vorstellungen des astralischen Leibes in Aktion brachten. Was nur Äußeres abbildet, hat keine Bedeutung für die geistige Welt. Wir müssen uns wieder durchdringen mit neuen Vorstellungen, die wieder bedeutungsvoll die Seele durchdringen können. Oft glaubt man etwas zu haben, was nur in der Phantasie lebt, von dem man meint, daß es wirklich Phantasie ist. Es ist aber oft nur eine Reminiszenz von dem, was vom physischen Plan herkommt. Nur indem wir die Vorstellungen beleben mit dem, was nicht vom physischen Plan herkommt, was nicht durch solche Phantasie gegeben werden kann, beleben wir wieder, was sonst erstirbt in der Seele.
Es wird immer mehr Mißbrauch getrieben mit dem Spruch: In einem schönen Leib wohnt eine schöne Seele, in einem gesunden Leib eine gesunde Seele. - Das war ein Ausspruch für die Erkenntnis früherer Zeiten, heute wird er als ein Kausalausspruch betrachtet: Jemand hat einen gesunden Leib, also kann ich daraus schließen, daß darin eine gesunde Seele wohnt. Was diesen Leib gesund macht, macht es auch die Seele.
Schon in der Kindheit werden die Menschen später mineralische Einschlüsse haben, werden sie als Krankheitsursachen mitschleppen, wenn sie nicht Vorstellungen entwickeln werden, die den astralischen Leib innerlich regsam erhalten. Sonst würde der Mensch nach dem Tode eintreten in eine geistige Welt, die ihm unklar bleibt, weil er selber kein Licht ausstrahlt. Die Sonne fällt auf eine Fläche, und davon hängt es ab, daß wir die Dinge sehen. In der geistigen Welt aber erstrahlt das Licht von uns aus, wir beleuchten das Feld, das wir sehen sollen. Die Seele, die Geisteswissenschaft zu pflegen den Trieb hat, ist sich vielleicht nicht dieser Verhältnisse bewußt, aber in den Uhtergründen der Seele lebt es. So wie in der physischen Welt das Sonnenlicht von außen kommt, so muß in der geistigen Welt der Mensch sich selbst sonnenhaft machen. Das geistige Brennmaterial, die innere Flamme, die die geistige Welt beleuchtet, müssen wir in uns entzünden, um die Welt zu beleuchten. Es träumen die Physiker davon, daß das Rot der Rose nur Wellenbewegung sei, auf Schwingungen zurückzuführen sei. Man sagt, es gäbe keinen Schall da draußen, sondern nur Luftschwingungen. Was ich als Schall empfinde, lebt nur in meinem Ohr. Ein einfaches Experiment kann uns aber eines anderen belehren: Wenn wir uns nämlich aufwecken lassen durch Klopfen an der Tür. Wenn der Mensch aufmerksam ist, wird er bemerken, daß er noch nicht bewußt war während der Nacht, als er noch schlief, dann aber schon selber in dem Klopfen darinnen war. Wir müssen in die Klopflaute selber hineingehen, wir benützen den anderen als Klopfer, weil unsere Seele nicht selbst klopfen kann. Hätten wir den festen Entschluß, aufzuwachen, dann könnten wir es selbst tun, so benützen wir den anderen nur als ein Mittel.
Werden die materialistischen Auffassungen noch einige Generationen anhalten, so wird wirklich das Rot der Rose verschwinden. Die Menschen werden wirklich die kleinen grauen Atome draußen sich schwingen sehen, als Atomwirbel, nicht weil der Mensch sie sehen muß, weil sie da sind, sondern weil er sich selber dazu bereitet hat, sie zu sehen. Das ist es, was notwendig macht, Geisteswissenschaft zu verkündigen, daß nicht nur physische Atomwirbel in der Zukunft bloß da sein werden. Wir reden auch nicht von dem physischen Äther, sondern von demjenigen Äther, der lebendiges Gedankenwesen ist. Das muß zuerst erkannt werden, daß in der Rose nicht Atome wirbeln, sondern daß Lebendes, Webendes, aber wirklich lebende, webende Elementarwesen hinter der Rose stehen. Die Theorie von der geistigen Welt ist Nebensache, die Hauptsache ist, daß die Empfindung sich zusammendrängt, daß wir uns fühlen lebend und webend in dieser für uns neu erwachten Empfindung der Realität der geistigen Welt. Das ist das Auferstehen der geistigen Welt in unserer Seele, das wahrhafte, interkonfessionelle OÖsterereignis.
Unsere Vorfahren brauchten ein anderes Ereignis, das geknüpft war an den Hochstand der Sonne. Wenn die ganze Natur sprießend und sprossend war, dann war das eine Ekstase für sie, wodurch ihnen die geistige Welt bekräftigt wurde. Was man damals im Johannifest durchlebte, das muß jetzt im Frühling zu Ostern, erlebt werden. Jetzt müssen wir Erwachen der Seele, Auferstehen der Seele feiern können, wenn Geisteswissenschaft zu uns spricht, nicht nur als Theorie, sondern als lebendiges Wissen.
Faith and Knowledge Johannifest and Easter
With the wealth of literature available, it is always possible to familiarize oneself with the findings of spiritual science when anthroposophical groups work together. Since we are gathered together here today, I would like to discuss some points of orientation that come directly from the impulses of the spiritual world and are more esoterically connected with what was spoken about yesterday in the public lecture, which was more exoterically oriented.
There are still many people today who hold fast to the old opposition between faith and knowledge, faith and recognition. They say: Science can teach us about the things of the outer world; we can know something certain about them. Faith must connect us with the things of the spiritual world. This seems to contradict spiritual science, which wants to give us real knowledge, a recognition of the spiritual world. It is precisely in this form of cognition, of knowledge, that it must penetrate into the souls of our present age. In a previous incarnation, our own souls were in a completely different situation than we are now. They were more primitive, but at that time there were great individualities and those who were related to them. They gave ideas about the supersensible world. We find this in individual tribes and peoples, which comes from these individuals, such as Hermes, Zarathustra, Moses, Buddha, and Krishna. Spiritual ideas had to be instilled in souls.
We live on the physical plane. Life on the physical plane is not only effort and work, but toil and labor. And most of this toil and labor is not at all in the sense of “after a day's toil and labor,” but in the sense of what goes on unconsciously and is actually brought about by our thinking, our entire soul life, as it takes place on the physical plane.
In children, forces work unconsciously. The spiritual takes hold of the organism. This is thoroughly organized. When we are born, we are much more alike than we immediately think. People are not alike outwardly, but in structure. Only then does the chiseling, the carving out of our nerves begin. This happens without our understanding, before we are even capable of using our intellect. Then comes the time when we begin to feel ourselves as an “I.” This is where the other wisdom that we bring with us from the gods, from the spiritual world, ends. In this first period, we have, so to speak, only life forces; it is merely a continuation of the spiritual world. A child who dies then dies only for external reasons of the body. The soul is not involved. Then comes the time when human beings begin to feed on the external organization with every thought, with every sensation. That is why we must sink into sleep, as compensation for what we consume during the day. If we did not consume, we would have a sprouting life. The etheric body always has the need to sprout and bear fruit, but the astral body has the need to consume what the etheric body builds up. It suppresses the etheric body. While we are unconscious in sleep, that which can replace what has been consumed, what has been killed, flows in from the spiritual worlds, so that balance is always restored. Normal sleep always compensates only for what has just been consumed. If people were to arbitrarily prolong their sleep, as some pensioners can do, they would sleep too much. This is not an objection to sleeping a lot. Precisely because mental work consumes a lot of physical energy, mental workers need a lot of sleep. But too much sleep gives too much new life force, which then proliferates, really proliferates, so that people are bursting with life force. Such excessive vitality is at the same time illness and naturally leads to illness. What the individual human being must now take in, so that he not only compensates for the work of the day but also progresses spiritually, he must consciously draw from the spiritual world. The founders of religions could say to themselves: It is my duty to lead, to consume vitality, and this will be compensated. But what must develop in human beings so that humanity can progress, so that the same thing does not die out in physical earthly existence, must be consciously drawn from the spiritual world. — That is why the founders of religions gave ideas that they drew from the spiritual world. These truly spiritual ideas are the nourishment of the soul. They alone sustain what is truly soulful in human beings. It would mean death for souls if they could not live in such ideas that were not taken from the physical world. In earlier times, these were the beliefs. This cycle has come to an end for humanity, and we now live in a time in which people on the physical plane will have less and less ability to take in what speaks only to their minds, their beliefs. This belief can still be preserved for some time, galvanized, so to speak, but it cannot be held onto for the future. Instead of the principle, “I believe,” there must come, “I believe what I know.” I believe what I know. People will already feel that this principle must apply. Otherwise, we will lose all possibility of knowing anything about life between death and a new birth. People would return to miserable conditions in their next incarnation. All enthusiasm for other ideals, however justified they may be, is certainly very beautiful and must exist. Compared to what lies at the foundation of spiritual science, however, they cannot be realized immediately. They can only be precursors of spiritual science, but without its knowledge.
As spiritual researchers advance, they always develop the need not to speak, but to remain silent. If they speak nonetheless, it is out of an awareness of the conditions that are necessary at that time. Knowledge alone makes people free, and achieving freedom for the human soul is certainly the task of people in the future.
Inner ideas that gave great spiritual tension came from the founders of religion. These were beliefs that in a wonderful way were able to illuminate the realm after death. They were transformed into genuine, true spiritual light that showed people their surroundings after death. But times are coming when people will have to live in freedom. And even if religious founders were to come who could speak with the voice of God and with divine power in the spirit of the old doctrines of faith, people would no longer be able to understand them. We have already experienced this. External science has come, it had to come. A great scientist of our time, Max Müller, said: And if an angel were to descend and proclaim to people the things of the spiritual world, people would not be able to understand him and would never believe him. — This is the development that humanity is undergoing. Then all that would remain would be that people would lose the ability to penetrate with their minds into the spiritual worlds. But that means having less light after death to illuminate the spiritual environment on our own. No external sun will then illuminate the outside world for us; the light must come from within us. We stand in the sun and illuminate our surroundings after death. People who do not shine must come down again and repeat life in order to take up ideas that are fruitful for life after death. When one sees this clearly, it is not merely the usual enthusiasm for the spread of spiritual science that loosens the tongue. Believing what one knows will be the need of the coming humanity. In ancient times, religious ideas, including myths and fairy tales, were what gave the souls light for the spiritual world. It is easy to say that myths and fairy tales are ideas that sprang from the childhood stages of humanity. Certainly, people did not physically encounter the angels spoken of in myths and fairy tales. But philosophical reflection is of no use in the spiritual world. This knowledge has no meaning in the spiritual worlds. It is easy to say that fairy tales are not based on any truth. The spiritual researcher has always been clever enough to know that fiery dragons do not fly through the physical air, but he has always known that it is necessary to form the imagination of the fiery dragon. For when this idea is in the soul, it casts spiritual light on the spiritual world. These are ideas of power. This is how all myths are constructed, not so much to depict something external, but to enable them to live truly in the spiritual world. Materialists say that myths and fairy tales originate from the childhood stage of humanity. But in their childhood, human beings were taught by gods. Myths and fairy tales are thus lost in this way to human evolution, but children should not be allowed to grow up like this. There is a big difference between letting children grow up with fairy tales and without them. The soul-stirring power of fairy tale images only emerges later. In a state of weariness with life, if fairy tales were not given, this later manifests itself in boredom. It even expresses itself physically; fairy tales can also help against illnesses. What is instilled through fairy tales emerges later as a zest for life, a meaning in life, and the ability to cope with life, even in the oldest age. Children must experience the power of fairy tales in their youth, when they can still experience them. Those who are unable to live with ideas that have no reality on the physical plane die to the spiritual world. And many philosophies that seek to base themselves solely on the physical plane are deadly poison for the soul. The external evolution becomes deadly poison for the spiritual world. Humanity must come to a judgment that is not based on the external, but is based on itself. It must increasingly come to the point where it says: I believe what I know.
But we will have to learn to pay attention to the symptoms of spiritual life. Here is an example. Once, when I was giving a lecture in a city in southern Germany, two Catholic priests came up to me afterwards and said: You only speak for the educated, but we speak for all people. — In truth, the opposite is the case. Anthroposophy can be brought to all people if only one finds the way to the simplest minds. The farmer would understand it much better than the so-called educated, if only the way were not blocked by social conditions. In such matters, one must be able to disregard oneself completely and not ask what one oneself considers to be right, but what the human souls of a certain time demand. So I had to reply to the priests: Your feelings tell you that you speak for all people, but the facts tell you that you do not speak for all people, because not all people come to you. And it is for those who do not come to you that I speak.
We acquire our knowledge and insight on the physical plane through the physical body and the etheric body. Let us consider very thoroughly how much of what is in our soul comes from the physical plane. Light, for example, enters through the eye, and the process that takes place there begins as a process of decomposition in the eye itself. The dissolution begins at the back of the eye. The process detaches itself from life. In the morning, after sleep, the eye is in such a state that it is pure life inside. Through perception, something emerges from the living tissue that is no longer alive, but merely mineral. And because this continues through the nervous tissue, we perceive what the external world has an effect on us. So that the physical body, as the carrier of these processes, is not something living.
The etheric body is the carrier of thoughts, which are also reflections. People could easily come to the conclusion that thoughts are reflections of something supersensible. Thoughts can never be prepared under a microscope. Thoughts actually live in the etheric body. They are shaped by thinking, and this is reflected in the physical body. From this we can see that knowledge depends on the physical body and the etheric body. Only impressions from the physical plane speak to the physical and etheric bodies. Other ideas, however, must take root in the human soul. They must also take hold of the astral body, the whole of feeling and willing and thinking, which is not exhausted on the physical plane alone. Otherwise, the human being remains inwardly dead. All ideas that represent something have meaning only for the physical plane. The question itself: Is an idea justified if it does not depict something? — already says this. Only those ideas that live freely in the spirit, that live freely in the astral body and in the I, are not only recognized, but lived with. These are ideas that do not merely depict something, but are inwardly active, alive, and make something out of themselves and out of us.
Naturalism reigns supreme in art today. It is very necessary to familiarize oneself with ancient times, when soul ideas existed that brought the ideas of the astral body into action. Anything that merely depicts the outer world has no meaning for the spiritual world. We must once again imbue ourselves with new ideas that can once again meaningfully permeate the soul. We often believe we have something that only exists in our imagination, something we think is really fantasy. But it is often only a reminiscence of what comes from the physical plane. Only by enlivening our ideas with what does not come from the physical plane, what cannot be given by such fantasy, can we revive what would otherwise die in the soul.
The saying “A beautiful body houses a beautiful soul, a healthy body houses a healthy soul” is increasingly being misused. This was a saying from earlier times, but today it is regarded as a causal statement: someone has a healthy body, so I can conclude that it houses a healthy soul. What makes this body healthy also makes the soul healthy.
Even in childhood, people will later have mineral inclusions, which they will carry with them as causes of illness if they do not develop ideas that keep the astral body internally active. Otherwise, after death, people would enter a spiritual world that remains unclear to them because they themselves do not radiate light. The sun shines on a surface, and it is this that enables us to see things. In the spiritual world, however, light shines from us; we illuminate the field that we are to see. The soul that has the urge to cultivate spiritual science may not be aware of these conditions, but they live in the depths of the soul. Just as sunlight comes from outside in the physical world, so in the spiritual world human beings must make themselves sun-like. We must ignite within ourselves the spiritual fuel, the inner flame that illuminates the spiritual world, in order to illuminate the world. Physicists dream that the red of a rose is only a wave motion, attributable to vibrations. They say that there is no sound out there, only vibrations in the air. What I perceive as sound lives only in my ear. But a simple experiment can teach us something else: when we are awakened by a knock at the door. If we are attentive, we will notice that we were not yet conscious during the night when we were still asleep, but that we were already present in the knocking. We have to go into the knocking sound ourselves; we use the other person as the knocker because our soul cannot knock itself. If we were determined to wake up, we could do it ourselves; we only use the other person as a means to an end.
If materialistic views continue for a few more generations, the red of the rose will truly disappear. People will truly see the little gray atoms outside, vibrating as atomic whirls, not because human beings have to see them because they are there, but because they have prepared themselves to see them. This is what makes it necessary to proclaim spiritual science, that in the future there will not only be physical atomic whirls. We are not talking about the physical ether, but about the ether that is a living thought being. It must first be recognized that it is not atoms that whirl in the rose, but that living, weaving, but truly living, weaving elemental beings stand behind the rose. The theory of the spiritual world is secondary; the main thing is that our feelings are concentrated, that we feel ourselves alive and weaving in this newly awakened sense of the reality of the spiritual world. This is the resurrection of the spiritual world in our souls, the true, interdenominational Easter event.
Our ancestors needed another event that was linked to the high position of the sun. When all of nature was sprouting and budding, it was an ecstasy for them, confirming the spiritual world to them. What was experienced at that time during the St. John's Festival must now be experienced in the spring at Easter. Now we must be able to celebrate the awakening of the soul, the resurrection of the soul, when spiritual science speaks to us, not only as theory, but as living knowledge.