The Christ Impulse and the Development of the Ego-Consciousness

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Printed for Members of the School of Spiritual Science, Goetheanum, Class I.

No person is held qualified to form a judgment on the contents of this work,

who has not acquired—through the School itself or in an equivalent manner

recognised by the School—-the requisite preliminary knowledge. Other

opinions will be disregarded ; the authors decline to take them as a basis for
discussion.

The Christ Impulse and the
Development of the
Ego-Consciousness

A Course of Seven Lectures
BY DR. RUDOLF STEINER

(Shorthand Report unrevised by the Lecturer)

LONDON :
ANTHROPOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING Co.
46, GLoucresTER Pracr, W.1

Authorised Translation
Edited by H. Collison

Printed in Guernsey by the Star and Gazette Co., Lid.

LECTURE
LECTURE
LECTURE
LECTURE
LECTURE
LECTURE
LECTURE

Se ree cane oho, Nis

CONTENTS

The Sphere of the Bodhisattvas.

The Law of Karma with respect to the details of Life.

The Entrance of the Christ Being into the Evolution of Humanity.
The Sermon on the Mount.

Correspondences between the Microcosm and the Macrocosm.
The Birth of Conscience.

The Further Development of Conscience.

Digitized by the Internet Archive
In 2024

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SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.

The following synopsis of contents is intended for the convenience of students, and

LECTURE I.

LECTURE 2.

LECTURE 3.

48 mn no sense authoritative.

Conscience.—Development of the different principles of man’s
being at different epochs. Old Indian. The Etheric body of
the Old Indian looked like the astral body of the Old Persian.
The nature of a great teacher at that time. Ordinary man was
then inactive but began to bestir himself in Greeco-Latin period ;
conscience begins. A Bodhisattva becomes Buddha, having
accumulated all experiences in one incarnation only. Reason
for Buddha’s incarnation in the East. Buddha introduced the
Ethics of compassion, once and for all; no repetition was necessary.
Clear thinking was given by another teacher later and its germ
planted in an earlier epoch. This was planted during the sentient
soul period in the West through Music by Apolle. The Bards.
The Son of Apollo. Orpheus and Eurydice. Apollo is the
Bodhisattva who prepares the Ego quality. The teacher pre-
pared the soil and Buddha had only influenced man from within ;
another Being was necessary to complete the whole being.
At Jordan, Christ sinks into the etheric body, which is the lowest
principle. The names of the heavens. Elemental world.
Devachan, also ‘ World of Providence’. Christ and the Twelve
Bodhisattvas.

Wecannot give Anthroposophy in tabloid form or pocket editions.
Mere belief does not carry far. Necessity for youth to feel
devotion and reverence. Education of children. Pain. Heal-
ing. Karma is a friend not an enemy to life. Why should
Anthroposophists meet often together? Inherited tendencies.

The Hebrew mission (according to Matthew by physical inheri-
tance). Through Lucifer man reaches in Lemuria a point
intended for Atlantis. Otherwise he would have followed the
instinctive guidance of the Elohim. ‘The Fall.” Mystery of
Golgotha had been intended for mid-Atlantis. The same span
of time between Lucifer and mid-Atlantis as between mid-Atlantis
and the Christ Impulse. Man not a free agent before Christ’s

LECTURE 4.

LECTURE 5D.

descent. Reason for lies, disease, death. The Golden Age or
Krita juga. The Silver age or Treta juga. The Bronze age or
Dvapara juga. The Dark Age or Kali juga, beginning 3101 B.C.
From Lemuria to Mount Sinai was the power to choose good or
evil. Sin. The ten commandments tell man how an Ego should
behave. The Poor in Spirit. The Christ Impulse. The Etheric
body. Illness. The Inner Comforter. The Astral body. In-
difference to things of the Earth. Sentient Soul. Blessed are
the Just. The Intellectual Soul. Blessed are those who can
feel with others, for others shall feel with them. By the Sermon
on the Mount Christ turns within man what the Commandments
had dictated from outside. Tacitus. Necessity for Christ to
descend during the darkest time. The Kali juga or Dark age
ended with the 19th century. Christ will not return in the flesh.
A new era and a new understanding are being prepared for 1930
onwards. Materialism will spread to spiritual conceptions.

Reason for Christ’s descent to physical plane. Zarathustra.
The Generations. Itiel, Lemuel. Ben Jage. Agur. Jedidjah.
Kohelet. Salomo. Old dreamy clairvoyance. Unconscious of
ego outside. Ecstasy in company with good spirits changes to
obsession by bad spirits. ‘ Blessed’ means ‘ God-filled’. The
Beatitudes. Further individual developments after 1930. The
near future and its possibilities and dangers. The Event of
Damascus. The danger of preaching a physical return. Christ
is here always even unto the end of the world. False Messiahs.

Difference between North, South and Christian Initiation. Duality
and unity. Male and female Duality in Universe. Duality in
man. Sun and Earth. Head and Limbs. Original uniform
being divided into man and woman. Woman crystallises an
earlier spiritual form. Man is a caricature of what should be a
future form. Both male and female forms are distortions. The
female brain is more pliable and spiritual. A woman corres-
ponds to a comet which enters our existence with laws pertaining
to Old Moon. It carries a former condition into a later. The
Moon-like man, is a present caricature of the Jupiter condition.
The above applies to the male in the woman and to the female in
the man. Man is male in physical but female in etheric. Woman
the reverse. Spiritual science in Paris, 1906, declared comets
must possess cyonagen. This has now been discovered true by
spectro-analysis. The comet appears in the regular life of cosmos,
like the new-born child arriving in the well ordered home of hum-
drum matrimony. Like children, some comets are good, some
bad. Halley’s comet gives an impulse to materialism. ‘Signs
from the Heavens.’ In the next 2,500 years the etheric realm
will be added to our perception, so that our environment will look
quite different. The fairy land of Shamballa.

LECTURE 6.

LECTURE 7.

Conscience. Aischylos. Orestes. Shakespeare. Euripides. People
in Graeco-Latin countries before Greece and Rome. The
Graeco-Latin developed civilisation, at the same time felt as
individuals. In Europe some peoples felt as individuals before
they were civilised and in Egypt people became civilised before
they developed the Ego. Europe had developed the Self too
far to allow the Incarnation of Christ in Europe. Reason for
Christ’s incarnation in Palestine. Empedokles. Conscientia.
Empedokles. Conscience appears in the West at the time Christ
appears in the East that through Christ, conscience may be
accepted.

Meaning of 8th May. Death of Blavatsky. Transition from
activity on physical plane to one in Spirit world. The Impulse
of the Rishis, of Zarathustra, of Moses, of Christ. Egoism in
religious tradition. The absence of a historic Jesus. Pro-
fessors Drews and Hartmann. St. Paul. People think what they
want to think. Historic records lose their value. The Event
at Damascus. Paul convinced by the ‘risen Christ’. This
event can be renewed in each hunian being, and this is the proof
of the historic Jesus. The old way has died out. Historical
proofs matter not. Danger in the Theosophical Society of the
worship of Personality and belief in Authority. Test the person
by the truth, not the truth by the person. The Christ experience
was completely veiled from Blavatsky. The Christ must be

. added to Theosophy. The danger in the Theosophical Society.

Adonis. Tammuz. Karma in the 20th century ceases to be
theory ; it is definite experiences. Paul says to man ‘ What you
now see you have turned into illusion by your own deeds. Take
the Christ that is within, and reality will be restored to you.’

The Christ Impulse and the Development of
the Ego-Consciousness

BY DR. RUDOLF STEINER
LECTURE 1.

Berlin, 25th October, 1909.

THE SPHERE OF THE BODHISATTVAS

To-DAy, on the occasion of our General Meeting, I feel it incumbent upon me to
speak upon a very sublime subject with which man is concerned. You must
allow me to begin by mentioning once again that it is necessary for us to grow
accustomed to speak in such a way on these subjects, that we must not rest
satisfied with a one-sided rendering of the particulars connected with the higher
world, as regards the general idea of the Bodhisattvas and their mission. We
must accustom ourselves here to penetrate from the abstract into the concrete
and to try, with the help of the ideas and sentiments which we have acquired
from our sincere and loving study of life, to press through even to the sublime
subjects pertaining to the Bodhisattvas. In doing this we must not merely
accept the facts communicated to us, but try to a certain extent to understand
them. For this reason I intend in this lecture to-day to begin by giving some
description of the idea men had of the Bodhisattvas and of how that idea moved
through the world.

We cannot really understand what a Bodhisattva is, without going some-
what deeply into the progressive course of man’s evolution, and calling to mind
some of the things we have heard in the last few years. Let us consider the
nature of this progress. After the great Atlantean catastrophe humanity went
through the period of the Old Indian civilisation, during which the great Rishis
were the teachers of man. Then followed the period of the Old Persian civil-
isation ; then that of the Egypto-Chaldean civilisation, then the Graeco-Latin
period—up to our own, which is the fifth period of civilisation of the Post-
Atlantean age. The purpose of these periods is the progressive development
of humanity from one form of life to another. Progress is not made only in
what is generally described in external history ; for if we take great periods of
time, we find that all the sentiments and feelings, all the conceptions and ideas
of men, alter and are renewed in the course of the development of humanity.
What would be the use of advocating the idea of re-embodiment or reincarna-

tion, if we did not know this ? What use would it be for our soul to come back
over and over again into an earthly body, unless it were to learn something new
each time—and not only to have new experiences, but to learn to feel differ-
ently ? Even the capacities of man, the intimacies of his soul-life, are each
time renewed and altered. This makes it possible for the soul to do more than
merely ascend stage by stage as though up a series of steps, for each time it meets
with new opportunities, through the altered conditions of life, of acquiring some-
thing new on earth. ‘The soul is not merely guided from one incarnation to
another by its sins and errors ; but as our earth alters in every one of its condi-
tions of life, so our souls can each time add something new from without. There-
fore the soul progresses from incarnation to incarnation, but also from one period
of civilisation to another. It would not, however, be able to progress and develop,
were it not that those Beings who had already reached a high development, and
were in some way or other above the ordinary humanity, had taken care that
something new might always flow into earthly civilisation. In other words, we
could not have advanced if there had not been great Teachers at work who, on
account of their higher development, were able to receive the experiences from
the higher worlds and carry them down to the scene of action of the life of
earthly culture. There have always been such Beings in the development of
our earth. (I am only speaking to-day of the Post-Atlantean development) and
these Beings were in certain respects the Teachers of the rest. We can only
understand the nature of these Teachers of humanity if we are clear as to the
way humanity itself progresses.

You will have heard the two Lectures just given by Dr. Unger, on the Ego
in its relation to the Non-Ego in its comprehension of itself considered according
to the theory of Knowledge. Now do you suppose that what you then heard
rendered by human lips and human thinking, could have been heard in this
form 2,500 years ago? It would have been impossible in any part of the earth
to speak about the Ego in this form of pure thought. Suppose some individua-
lity 2,500 years ago had desired to incarnate into our earth-life, having made up
its mind beforehand to speak of the Ego in that special way, well, it could not
have done so! Anyone who supposes that anything of the kind could have
been uttered by human lips, 2,500 years ago, entirely fails to recognise the actual
progress and alteration in the development of civilisation since that time. For
this to be possible it would not only be necessary for an individuality to resolve
to incarnate in a human body, but it would also have been necessary that our
earth in her evolution should have produced a human body with a particular
sort of brain, so that the truths, which in the higher worlds are quite of ‘a
different nature, could in that particular brain take the form which we call
‘pure thought.’ For the way in which Dr. Unger spoke of the Ego we call the
form of pure thought. 2,500 years ago there would have been no human brain
capable of being an instrument for translating these truths into such thoughts.
The Beings who wish to descend to our earth must make use of the bodies which
this earth-cycle itself produces. Our earth, however, throughout the different
periods of civilisation has always brought forth bodies with ever different
organisations ; only in our fifth Post-Atlantean epoch of civilisation, has it be-
come possible to speak in the form of pure thought—the human race having pro-

duced the necessary bodies. Even in the Graeco-Latin age it would not yet have
been possible to speak like that along the lines of the theory of knowledge, for
there would have been no instrument there to translate such thoughts into
human language. That precisely is the task of our fifth Post-Atlantean period ;
it must gradually form the physical organisation of man into an instrument
through which those truths, which in other ages were grasped in quite other
forms, can flow in ever purer and purer thought. We will take another example.
When a man considers the question of good and evil at the present day, hesi-
tating as to whether he should or should not do a certain thing, he says that a
kind of inner voice speaks, telling him: ‘You ought not to do this. You
ought to do that !’ and that this has nothing to do with any outer law. If we
listen to this inner voice, we distinguish in it a certain impulse, an incitement to
act in a certain way in a given case. We call this inner voice conscience. If a
man is of the opinion that the different periods of man’s development were all
exactly alike, he might easily believe that as long as man has inhabited the
earth, conscience has always existed. That would not be correct. We can, so
to speak, prove historically that there was a beginning to the time when men
began to speak of conscience. When this was, is clearly evident. It lay
between the periods of two tragic poets: Aischylos, who was born in the sixth
century before our era, and Euripides, who was born in the fifth century. You
will find no mention of conscience previous to this. Even in Aschylos you will
not as yet find what could be called the inner voice ; what he writes of, still
took the form of an astral, pictorial apparition ; the Furies or Erinyes, vengeful
beings, appeared to men. The time came, however, when the astral perception
of the Furies was replaced by the inner voice of conscience. Even in the
Graeco-Latin pericd, in which a dim astral perception was still present, a man
who had committed a wrong could perceive that every wrong act created astral
forms in his environment, whose presence filled him with anxiety and fear as to
what he had done. Those forms were man’s educators at that time ; they gave
him his impulses. When he lost the last remains of his astral clairvoyance, this
perception was replaced by the invisible voice of conscience ; that means, that
what was at first outside, then entered into the soul and became one of the forces
now within it. The alteration that has taken place in mankind in the course of
development comes from the fact that the external instrument of man, in which
he seeks embodiment, has changed. Five thousand years ago, when a human
soul did something wrong, the Furies were perceived ; it could not then have
heard the Voice of Conscience. In this way it learnt to establish an inner —
relation to good and evil. This same soul was born again and again, and at last
it was born into a body possessing an organisation in which the quality of
conscience could approach it. In a future cycle of human development other
forms and other capacities will be experienced in the soul.

I have repeatedly laid stress on the fact that no one who really understands
Anthroposophy will take up the dogmatic attitude of asserting that the form
in which this is given out to-day will be permanent and will suffice for the
humanity of all future time. Such is not the case. In 2,500 years’ time the
same truths will not be revealed in this form, but in a different form, according
to the instruments then existing. If you bear this in mind, it will be clear to

3 i

you that humanity must be spoken to in a different manner in each successive
age and that the attitude of the great Teachers towards the capacities and
qualities of man must likewise differ. This signifies that the great Teachers
themselves undergo development from one cycle to another, from one age to
another. In the ages through which humanity progresses, we find going on
above man, as it were, a progressive evolution of the great Teachers of humanity.
Just as man passes through certain stages and then reaches a certain turning-
point, so likewise do the Great Teachers.

We are now living in the fifth period of our Post-Atlantean epoch of
civilisation. This is in a certain sense, a recapitulation of the third, of
the Egypto-Chaldean period. The sixth will, in like manner, recapitulate
the Old Persian, and the seventh will recapitulate the Old Indian. Thus do
the various cycles overlap each other. The fourth period will not be recapi-
tulated ; it stands in the middle—sufficient unto itself, as we might say.
What does this mean? It means that what men experienced in the
Graeco-Latin period they only need go through once in an epoch of
civilisation ; not that they were only once incarnated in it, but that they
only experience that period in one form. What was experienced in the
Egypto-Chaldean period is being recapitulated now ; it will thus be experi-
enced in a two-fold form. There are certain stages of development which
betoken a sort of crisis; while other periods are in certain respects like
one another, the one recapitulating the other, not in the same way, but in a
different form. The manner of man’s development in the Post-Atlantean age
is this: he went through a certain number of incarnations in the Old Indian
period—and will go through a certain number in the seventh period, and these
latter will resemble the former. A like resemblance will exist between the
second and the sixth—and between the third and the fifth periods. Between
these—in the fourth period—there are a number of incarnations, which re-
semble no other, and which therefore do not signify a transition. Man goes
through a descending and an ascending development. The great Teachers of
humanity also go through a period of descent and one of ascent, and differ
absolutely at the different periods.

Now as man in the first Post-Atlantean period had quite different capaci-
ties from those he acquired later, he had to be instructed in quite a different way.
To what do we owe the fact that in our time wisdom can be clothed in the con-
cise forms of pure thought? We owe this to the circumstance that in our
period of development the chief and average quality that is being developed is
the consciousness1 soul. In the Graeco-Latin period the intellectual soul or
mind was being developed, in the Egyptio-Chaldean the sentient soul, in the
Old Persian the sentient body, and in the Old Indian the etheric body ;—as the
chief factor in their culture, of course. What the consciousness-soul is to us,
that the etheric body was to the inhabitants of Old India. They had therefore
quite a different mode of grasping and understanding. If you had spoken to
the Old Indian in forms of pure thought, he would not have had the faintest
idea what you meant. To him such words would have been mere sounds,
without meaning. The great Teachers could not have taught the Old Indians

1 Since 1923 called by Dr. Steiner ‘“‘ The Spiritual Soul.”

by communicating wisdom to them in the form of pure thought, nor could they
have explained it by word of mouth. To the Old Indians the Great Teachers
said very little ; for at the stage which the etheric body had then reached people
were not receptive to the word which enclosed the thought. It is very difficult
for people of our day to imagine how teaching could have taken place under
those conditions. Very little indeed was spoken ; rather did the listening soul
recognise in the nuances of the sound, in the way a word was uttered, what
flowed down from the spiritual world. That, however, was not the chief thing.
The word was, so to speak, only the call to attention, the signal, that a relation-
ship must now be established between the teacher and the hearer. In the
earliest times of the Old Indian period the word was hardly more than when we
ring a bell as a sign that something is about to begin. It was a crystallising
point around which were woven the indescribable, spiritual currents which
passed from the teacher to his pupil. What was of greatest importance was
what the teacher saw, in his inner personality. It did not matter what he
said ; the qualities of his soul were of the greatest importance ; for a sort of
inspiration passed over from him to the pupil. The latter, having in particular
developed the etheric body, the teacher had to address himself specially to that ;
and it was much easier to understand what the teacher himself was, than any-
thing spoken. Before they could understand the spoken word, men had to pass
through the subsequent periods of civilisation. It was therefore not necessary
for any one of the great Teachers of the Old Indians to have a particularly
developed intellectual or consciousness soul, for such would have been at that
time an instrument of which he could make no use. One thing, however, was
necessary in these great Teachers: their own etheric bodies had to be at a more
advanced stage of development than were those of the people. Ifa great teacher
had stood at the same stage of development as they, he could not have had much
effect upon them ; he could not have communicated messages from a higher
world, nor given an impulse for progress. In a certain sense what man was to
grow to in the future, had first to be brought to him. The Indian teacher had
to anticipate, as it were, what the others would only be able to acquire in the
subsequent period of civilisation, that of the Old Persians. What the ordinary
man in the Old Persian period would take in through the sentient body, that
the Great Teacher of the Indians had to communicate through the etheric body.
That means that the etheric body of such a teacher must not work like those
of other men, it had to work as the sentient body was to do in the Persian
civilisation. If a seer, in the present sense of the word, had come in contact
with one of the great Indian teachers, he would have said: ‘‘ What sort of
etheric body is that ?”’ For such an etheric body would have looked like an
astral body of the Old Persian period.

It was, however, no such simple matter for such an etheric body to have
worked as an astral body of a later period. It could not have been brought
about at that time by any advanced stage of development. It could only be
made possible by the descent of a Being who had already reached a further stage
than the others, and who incarnated in a human body which was really neither
suited to nor well adapted to him, but which he was obliged to enter to make
himself understood by the others. Outwardly he looked like other men, but

inwardly he was quite different. To judge of such an individual by his outer
aspect would mean to deceive oneself utterly ; for while the outer appearance of
ordinary persons harmonises with their inner being, in the case of these Teachers
it was in complete contradiction. Here we have an individuality, who, as far
as he himself was concerned, had no longer any need to come down to earth at
all, but who descended to a certain stage and took his place among the Old
Indian people, to teach them. He descended willingly, and incarnated in
human form, though he was a different Being altogether. He was an individual
of such a nature that the destiny to which a normal man—as man—is subject,
did not affect him. A Teacher of this kind would live in a body having an
external destiny, yet he would have no part in that destiny ; he lived in that
body as in a house. When that body died, death for him was a very different
experience from what it is for other men. Birth, too, and the experiences
between birth and death were quite different for him. Hence also such a Being -
worked in quite a different way in this human instrument. Let us picture to
ourselves in what way such an individuality used the brain, for instance. For
even if he was able to perceive through the astral body, yet the brain which
indeed was otherwise organised, still had to be used as an instrument to observe
the pictures through which perceptions were received. ‘There were, therefore,
two human types ; the one, who used his brain as an ordinary human being, and
the Teacher type, who did not use his brain at all in the ordinary way, but in a
certain sense left it unused. A great Teacher did not need to use the brain in
all its details; he knew things that other people could only learn through the
instrument of the brain. It was not a real, earthly incarnation as such ; it was
not a real incarnation of a human being in the ordinary sense. It represented a
sort of double nature ; a spiritual being lived in this organisation. There were
such Beings also in the later Persian and in the Egyptian periods. It was
always the case that in their individuality they towered far above the stature
of their human organisation. They were not wholly contained within it. For
that reason they were able to work upon the rest of the people in those olden
times. This state of things continued down to the time when, in the Graeco-
Latin period, an important crisis occurred in the development of mankind.
Now in the Graeco-Latin age the intellectual soul or mind+ began gradually
to form inner faculties. Whereas in the time preceding this the chief things
flowed in from outside, so to speak—as we saw in the example of the Furies,
when men had avenging beings around them but not within them—in the
Graeco-Latin period something began to flow from within, towards the great
Teachers. In this way quite new conditions were established. Formerly,
Beings from the Higher Worlds descended and found a state of things which
enabled them to say: “ It is not necessary for us completely to enter the human
organisation ; for we can do our work by carrying down to men what they
cannot otherwise obtain, and causing that to flow into them from the Higher
Worlds.” At that time it was not yet necessary for man to contribute anything,
there was no need for him to bring anything to meet the great Teachers. But if
the great Teachers had gone on with this policy, it might have occurred—from
the fourth Period onwards—that one of these great Individualities would have
1 Mind in the sense of ‘I have a mind to do a thing.’

descended into some part of the earth and found there something which did not
exist above. As long as the Furies, the avenging spirits, were visible, men
could turn their attention away from what was to be found on earth. Now,
however, came something quite new—conscience. That was unknown to the
spirits above ; there was no possibility up there of observing it. It came as
something quite new to them. In other words, in the fourth period of Post-
Atlantean civilisation the necessity arose for these great Teachers actually to
descend to the stage of man, therein to learn what it was that was coming up
to meet them out of the human souls. Now began the time when it would not
do for them not to share to some extent in the qualities inherent in man. Let
us now observe that significant Being, whom in his earthly incarnation we know
as Gautama Buddha.

Gautama Buddha was a Being who had always been able to incarnate in
the earthly bodies of the various periods of civilisation, without having had to
use everything in this human organisation. It had not been necessary for this
Being to go through real human incarnations. Now, however, came an im-
portant turning-point for the Bodhisattva ; it now became necessary for him
to make himself acquainted with all the destinies of the human organisation
within an earthly body which he was to enter. He was to experience some-
thing which could only be experienced in an earthly body ; and because he was
such a high Individuality, this one incarnation was sufficient for him to see all
that a human body can develop. Other people have to evolve the inner capa-
cities gradually, throughout the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh periods ; but
Buddha could experience in this one incarnation all that it was possible to
evolve. In his incarnation as Gautama Buddha he saw, in advance, the first
germ of what’ was to arise in man as conscience, which will become greater and
greater as time goes on. He was therefore able to re-ascend into the spiritual
world directly after that incarnation ; there was no need for him to go through
another. What man will, in a certain sphere evolve out of himself during future
cycles, Buddha was able to give in this one incarnation, as a great directing
force. This came about through the event which has been described as the
“sitting under the Bodhi-tree.”” He then gave forth—in accordance with his
special mission—the teaching of compassion and love contained in the eight-
fold path. This great Ethic of humanity which men will acquire as their own
during the civilisations yet to come, was laid down as a basic force in the mind
of the Buddha who descended at that time, and from Bodhisattva became
Buddha, which means that he really rose a stage higher, for he learnt through his
descent.

That, in different words, describes that great event in Eastern civilisation
known as “‘ the Bodhisattva becoming Buddha.’ When this Bodhisattva, who
had never really incarnated, was 29 years of age, his individuality fully entered
the son of Suddhodana ; not having fully had possession of him. He then ex-
perienced the great human teaching of compassion and love. Why did this
Bodhisattva, who then became Buddha, incarnate in this people? Why not
in the Graeco-Latin people ?

If this Bodhisattva was really to become the Buddha of the fourth Post-
Atlantean period of civilisation, he had to bring in something new for the

future. When the consciousness-or spiritual-soul has been fully developed,
man will, by its means, gradually become sufficiently ripe to recognise of him-
self the great impetus given by Buddha. At a time when man had only
developed the intellectual soul, it was necessary that Buddha should already
have developed the spiritual soul. He had so to use the physical instrument of
the brain that he was complete master of it; and this in quite a different
fashion than could have been done by one who might have progressed in advance
as far as the Graeco-Latin period of civilisation. The Graeco-Latin brain would
have been too hard for him to use. It would only have enabled him to develop
the intellectual or mind! soul, whereas he had to develop the spiritual soul.
For that he required a brain that had remained softer. He made use of the
soul that was only to develop later, in an instrument that had been used by man
in earlier times and had been retained by the Indian people. Here again we
have a recapitulation: Buddha repeated a human organisation belonging to
earlier times, together with a soul-capacity belonging to times yet to come.
The events that take place in the evolution of humanity are to this extent, of
the nature of a necessity. In the 5th to the 6th century before our era, Buddha
had the task of introducing the spiritual-soul into the organisation of man.
He, as a single individual, could not, however, take over the whole task of doing
all that was necessary in order that the spiritual-soul might prepare itself in
the right way from the 5th century onward. His own particular mission only
comprised one part of that task: that of bringing to man the doctrine of
Compassion and Love. Other teachers of humanity would have other tasks.
This part of the Ethics of Humanity, the ethic of Love and Compassion, was
first introduced by Buddha, and its vibrations still endure; but humanity
must in future develop a number of other qualities besides these, as, for instance,
that of thinking in forms of pure thought, in crystal-clear thoughts. It was no
part of Buddha’s mission to build up thoughts, to add one clear thought to
another. His task was to form and establish that which leads man of his own
accord to find the eight-fold path.

So there had to be another Teacher of humanity having quite different
faculties, one who carried down a different stream of spiritual life from the
higher spiritual worlds into this world. To this other individuality was given
the task of carrying down what is gradually showing itself, in mankind to-day,
as the faculty of logical thought. A Teacher had to be found, able to carry
down what makes it possible for man to express himself in forms of pure thought;
for logical thought itself only developed as time went on. What Buddha
accomplished had to be carried into the intellectual- or mind-soul. This soul,
through its position between the sentient soul and the consciousness- or spiritual-
soul, possesses the peculiar attribute of not having to recapitulate anything.
The Old Indian epoch will be repeated in the seventh, the Old Persian in the
sixth, the Egyptian in our own; but just as the fourth epoch stands alone,
apart from the others, so does the intellectual- or mind-soul. The forces neces-
sary for our intellectual faculties which only appear in the spiritual-soul, could
not be developed in the intellectual soul ; although these were only to appear
later, they had to be laid down in germ and stimulated at an earlier period.

1 Mind in the sense of ‘ I have a mind to do a thing.’

In other words: the impulse for logical thinking had to be given before the
Buddha gave the impulse for Conscience. Conscience was to be organised into
man in the fourth epoch; conscious, pure thinking was to develop in the
consciousness- or spiritual-soul in the fifth epoch, but had to be laid down in
the third epoch of civilisation, as the germ for what we are evolving now. That
is why that other Great Teacher had the task of instilling into the sentient soul
the forces which now appear as pure thought. It is therefore easy to see that
the difference between this Teacher and the normal man, was even greater
than it wasin Buddha. Something had to be aroused in the sentient soul which
did not as yet exist in any living man. Ideas or conceptions would not have
helped to develop this; therefore although this Individuality had the task of
laying the germ of certain faculties, he could not himself make any use of them.
That would have been impossible. He had toemploy other, quite different, forces.

I explained this morning (in the second lecture on “‘ Anthroposophy ”’)
that certain forces working through the power of vision on the sentient soul,
will at a higher stage become conscious forces, and will then appear in the form
of thought. If that great Teacher-Individuality was able so to stimulate the
sentient-soul that the forces of thought could penetrate it, in somewhat the
same way as life subconsciously penetrated it through the act of vision—
without the least realising it, that Teacher could then achieve something.
This could only be done in one way. To stimulate the sentient soul and instil
into it, so to speak, the power of thought, this Individuality had to work in a
very special way. He had to give his instruction, not in conceptions—but
through music! Music engenders forces which set free in the sentient soul
something, which, when it rises into the consciousness and has been worked
upon by the spiritual soul, becomes logical thinking. This music came forth
from a mighty Being, who taught through music. You will think this strange,
and may perhaps not believe it possible, yet such was the case. Before the
Graeco-Latin age, in certain parts of Europe, there existed an ancient culture
among those peoples who had remained behind as regards the qualities strongly
developed in the East. In those parts of Europe the people were not able to
think much, for their development had been of quite a different nature ; they
had but little of the forces of the intellectualsoul. Their sentient soul, however,
was very receptive to what proceeded from the impulses of a special kind of
music, which was not the same as our music to-day. We thus go back to a time
in Europe when there was what we might call an ancient “ musical culture ”—
a time when not only the ‘“‘ Bards ”’ were the teachers, as they were later, when
these things had already fallen into decadence, but when a music full of enchant-
ment passed through all those parts of Europe. In the third epoch of civilisa-
tion (2.¢e., the Egyptian) there was a profound musical culture in Europe, and
the minds of those peoples who were waiting quietly for what they were destined
to carry out later, were receptive in a particular way to the effects of music.
These effects worked upon the sentient soul in a similar way to that in which
the thought-substance works upon it through the eyes. Thus did music work
on the physical plane; but the sentient soul had the subconscious feeling:
“This comes from the same regions as the Light.’” Music—the song from the
realms of Light !

Once upon a time there was a primeval Teacher in the civilised parts of
Europe—a primeval Teacher who in this sense was a primeval Bard, the pioneer
of all the ancient Bards and minstrels. He taught on the physical plane by
means of music, and he taught in such a way that something was thereby
communicated to the sentient-soul, which was like the rising and shining of a
sun. What tradition has retained concerning this great Teacher was later on
gathered together by the Greeks—who were still influenced by him from the
West as they were influenced in a different way from the East. This was
embodied in their conception of Apollo, who was a Sun-God and at the same
time the God of music. This figure of Apollo dates back, however, to that great
Teacher of primeval times, who put into the human soul the faculty which
appears to-day as the power of clear thinking.

The Greeks also tell of a pupil of this Great Teacher of humanity—of one
who became a pupil in a very special way. How could anyone become the
“pupil” of this Being ?

In those bygone times, when this Being was to work in the manner just
described, he was not, of course, encompassed in the physical organisation ;
he transcended that which walks the earth as physical man. A man with an
ordinary sentient-soul might have been receptive to the effects of the music,
but he could not have aroused them in others. A higher Individuality had
come down and was like the radiance of what lived in the cosmos outside. It
became necessary, however, that in the fourth Post-Atlantean epoch of civil-
isation, in the Graeco-Latin period, he should descend again—that he should
descend to the human stage and make use of all the faculties that are in man.
Yet, although he made use, so to speak, of all the human faculties, he could
not quite descend. For, in order to bring about what I have described, he
required faculties transcending those possessed by a human organisation in the
fourth post-Atlantean period. The effects of this music even then included
what was to be found in the spiritual soul ; and it could not at that time have
lived in an individuality organised only for the intellectual soul. Hence, al-
though incarnated in such a form, he still had to hold something back. His
incarnation in the fourth epoch was such, that although he completely filled
the whole human form, yet he as man, dwelling within that form, had, as it
were, something within him that extended far beyond it ; he knew something of
a spiritual world, but he could not make use of this knowledge. He had a
soul which extended beyond his body. Humanly speaking, there was some-
thing tragic in the fact that the Individuality who had acted as a great Teacher
in the third epoch of civilisation, should have had to incarnate again in a form
in which his soul was to a great extent outside it—and yet that he could not
make any use of this superior and unusual faculty of soul. This kind of in-
carnation was called a “‘ Son of Apollo ’’, because that which had dwelt on earth
before, was reincarnated in a very complicated and not in a direct way. A
Son of Apollo bore within him as soul what Mysticism designates by the symbol
of the ‘feminine’ element ; he could not bear all of it within him, because it
was in another world. His own feminine soul element was itself in another
world to which he had no access but for which he longed, because a part of
himself was there. This marvellous inner tragedy of the reincarnated Teacher

of former times has been wonderfully preserved in Greek Mythology under the
name of ‘ Orpheus ’—the name given to the reincarnated Apollo, or ‘“‘ Son of
Apollo.”

This tragedy of the soul is represented in a marvellous way in the figures
of ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’. Eurydice was soon torn from Orpheus. She
dwelt in another world ; but Orpheus still had the power, through his music, of
teaching the beings of the nether world. He obtained permission from them to
take EKurydice back with him. But he must not look around him ; for that would
mean inner death ;—at all events it would bring about a loss of what he formerly
was and which he cannot now take into himself.

Thus in this incarnation of Apollo as Orpheus, we have again a sort of
descent of a Bodhisattva—if we may use this Eastern term—to Buddha-hood.
We might quote a number of such Beings who stand out from age to age as the
great Teachers of humanity and who always had a very special experience at
the time of their deepest descent. The Buddha experiences the bliss of in-
spiring the whole of humanity. That Bodhisattva whose memory is preserved
externally under the name of ‘ Apollo,’ had an individual experience : he was
to prepare the individuality, the quality of the Ego. He experiences the
tragedy of the Ego ; he experiences the fact that this ego is, in the present state
of man as regards this attribute of his, not entirely with him. Man is strug-
gling up to the higher ego. That was foreshadowed for the Greeks by the
Buddha or Bodhisattva in Orpheus.

These particulars furnish us with a characterisation of the great Teachers
of humanity and we are then able to form a picture in our minds. If you
summarise what I have said, you will find that I have all along been speaking
of those Beings who formed the sentient-soul and the spiritual-soul in a
particular way as inner faculties—faculties which must draw into man from
within. As we are now surveying this one period we can only for the moment
consider two of these Beings, those who formed the sentient soul. But there
are many such, for the inner nature of man evolved gradually, stage by stage.

Let us now compare yet another Being with that which affects the inner
nature of man, so to speak. For indeed we cannot but say to ourselves: If
there is a constant succession of Teachers who supply the progressing and
developing inner faculties of man with spiritual food from the higher regions,
there must be other Individualities who accomplish other work and above all
take part in the changes in the earth itself and in what evolves from one age to
another. When the Buddha influenced the intellectual soul from within, so to
speak, through the consciousness or spiritual soul in the fourth period of civilisa-
tion, it must also be influenced from without. Something had to approach
the intellectual soul from without. This Being had to approach from another
side and to work in quite a different way. A Teacher such as those we have
been describing, had, when he appeared among men, to pour into their inner
being what he had to bring down from higher regions. He was a Teacher,
What had the other Being to do, who was to bring the earth forward, so that it
developed further from one generation to another ? He was not only to in-
fluence the inner being of man to develop this or that faculty within him, but
He Himself, as Being, had to descend to the earth. He who was to descend,

was not merely to teach the intellectual soul, but to form it. One had to appear
who was to form that soul and who was Himself to be its direct expression in
the fourth period, that eminent period that stands alone in the middle. This
Being had to come from quite a different side. He had to draw into human
nature itself, to incarnate within it. The Bodhisattvas transformed the inner
nature of man ; this Being transformed his whole nature. He made it possible
for the Teachers to find a suitable soil on which to work in the future. He
transformed the whole human being. We must recollect how the different
souls in man build themselves into the different bodies : the sentient soul into
the sentient body, the intellectual into the etheric body and the spiritual soul
into the physical body. The field of action of the Bodhisattvas is there where
the spiritual soul builds itself into the physical body. That is where they lay
hold of man from the one side. Where the intellectual- or mind-soul works
into the etheric body, another Being, in the fourth period, influenced man from
another side. When did he do this ? It was accomplished at the time when the
etheric body in man could be directly affected,—when that Being whom we
have described more closely as Jesus of Nazareth, forsook the physical body at
the moment of the Baptism in Jordan. When that whole body was immersed,
whereby occurred what we have described as a ‘ shock,’ the Christ-Being sank
down into that etheric body. That is the Individuality Who comes from quite
a different side and is of quite a different nature. Whereas in the case of the
other great Leaders of humanity we have, in a sense, to do with more highly
evolved human beings, men who have at least once been subject to all the fate
of a man,—of Christ that cannot be said. What is the lowest principle of the
Christ-Being ? Counting from below, it is the etheric body. That means that
when some day man, through Spirit-Self, shall have transformed his whole
astral body and will set to work on his etheric body, he will then be working in
an element in which the Christ once worked in the same way. Christ gives an
impulse of the most powerful kind, which will continue to work on into the
future, and which man will only reach when he begins to work at the trans-
mutation of his etheric body in a conscious way.

In his journey through life, man starts from birth, or even from conception,
and travels on till death ; from death to his next birth is another journey. On
his way from death to a new birth he first passes through the astral world ;
then through what we call the lower part of the Devachanic world, and after
that through the higher Devachanic world. Or, using the European terms, we
call the physical world the little world or the world of mental powers, of intel-
ligence ; the astral world is called the elemental world ; the lower Devachan
the heavenly world, and the Higher world is the world of reason, of discern-
ment, of discretion. The European mind is only gradually evolving to the point
where the true expressions may be found in its language. Therefore, what lies
beyond the Devachanic world has been given a religious colouring and is called
the * world of Providence ’—which is the same as the Buddhi-plane. What is
beyond that again could indeed be seen by the old clairvoyant vision, and
ancient tradition tells of it ; in the European languages no name could be formed
for it.—Only in our present day can the seer once more work his way up to that
world which is above and beyond the World of Providence. European lan-

guages cannot truly give a name to this world. This world does indeed exist ;
but thought is not yet far enough advanced to be able to describe it. For to
that which Eastern Theosophy calls Nirvana and which lies above the ‘ World
of Providence,’ one cannot just give any name one pleases.

As I was saying, between death and rebirth, man ascends to the higher
Devachan or world of Reason. When there he looks into higher worlds, worlds
he cannot himself enter, and there he sees the Higher Beings at work. Whereas
man spends his life in worlds extending between the physical plane and Deva-
chan, it is normal for the Bodhisattvas to extend to the Buddhi-plane, or what
we in Europe call the world of Providence. That is a good name, for it is pre-
cisely the task of the Bodhisattvas to guide the world as a good ‘ providence ’
from age to age. Now what took place when the Bodhisattva went through
the embodiment of Gautama Buddha ?—When he reaches a certain stage, he
can ascend to the next higher plane—to the Nirvana-Plane. That is his next
sphere. It is characteristic of the Bodhisattvas that when they become Bud-
dhas they ascend to the Plane of Nirvana. Everything that works on the inner
being of man, dwells in a sphere extending to that Plane. A Being such as the
Christ works into the nature of man from the other side. He also works, from
the other side, into those worlds to which the Bodhisattvas ascend when they
leave the region of man, in order themselves to learn, in order that they may
become Teachers of humanity. There they meet,—coming down to them

‘from above, from the other side—a Being such as the Christ. They then
become pupils of Christ. A Being such as He, is surrounded by twelve Bodhis-
attvas ; we cannot indeed speak of more than twelve ; for when the twelve
Bodhisattvas have accomplished their mission we shall have completed the
period of earth-existence.

Christ was once on earth; He has descended to earth, has dwelt on the
earth, has ascended from it. He comes from the other side; He is the Being
who is in the midst of the twelve Bodhisattvas, and they receive from Him
what they have to carry down to earth.—Thus, between two incarnations the
Bodhisattva-Beings ascend to the Buddhi-Plane ; there they meet the Being
of Christ as Teacher, and they are fully conscious of Him. He in this Being,
extends to that Plane. The meeting between the Bodhisattvas and the Christ
takes place on the Buddhi-Plane. When men progress further and shall have
developed the qualities instilled into them by the Bodhisattvas, they will be-
come more and more worthy themselves to penetrate that sphere. In the
meantime it is necessary that they should learn that the Christ-Being was
incarnated in human form in Jesus of Nazareth, and that in order to reach
the true Being of the Individuality of Christ, one must first permeate the
human form with understanding.

Thus twelve Bodhisattvas belong to Christ, and they prepare and further
develop what He brought as the greatest impulse in the evolution of human
civilisation. We see the twelve, and—in their midst—the thirteenth. We
have now ascended to the sphere of the Bodhisattvas, and entered a circle of
twelve stars ; in their midst is the Sun, illuminating, warming them ; from this
Sun they draw that source of life which they afterwards have to carry down to
earth.

13 *

How is the image of what takes place above, represented on earth? It
is projected into the earth in such wise that we may render it in the following
words : Christ, Who once lived on the earth, brought to this earth evolution
an impulse for which the Bodhisattvas had to prepare humanity and they then
had to develop further what He gave to the earth-evolution. Thus the picture
on earth, is something like this: Christ in the middle of the earth-evolution ;
the Bodhisattvas as His advance-messengers and His followers, who have to
bring His work closer to the minds and hearts of men.

A number of Bodhisattvas had thus to prepare mankind, to make men
ripe to receive the Christ. Now, although men were ripe enough to have
Christ among them, it will be a long time before they mature sufficiently to
recognise, to feel, and to will, all that Christ is. The same number of Bodhis-
attvas will be required to develop to maturity in man what was poured into him
through Christ, as was necessary to prepare men for His coming. For there
is so much in Him, that the forces and faculties of men must go on ever in-
creasing, before they are able to understand Him. With the existing faculties
of man, Christ can only be understood to a minute extent. Higher faculties
will arise in man, and each new faculty will enable him to see Christ in a new
light. Only when the last Bodhisattva belonging to Christ shall have completed
his work, will humanity realise what Christ really is ; man will then be filled
with a will in which the Christ Himself willlive. He will draw into man through
his Thinking, Feeling, and Willing, and man will then really be the external
expression of Christ on the earth.

LECTURE 2.
THE LAW OF KARMA WITH RESPECT TO THE DETAILS OF LIFE.
Berlin, 22nd December, 1909.

Our lecture to-day shall be devoted to subjects interesting to Anthroposo-
phists in the widest sense, subjects intended to throw light on certain points
which may have puzzled those who have attended our Group-Meetings for a
considerable time. It is well, now and then, to recollect that the point of
importance in Anthroposophy is not so much the learning of certain things as
theory or doctrine, but that we should continually enter in greater detail into
the questions and enigmas of life-——Some people may perhaps say: ‘ All that
is necessary to know of Anthroposophy for use in life could be comfortably
contained in a small pamphlet of sixty pages or so ; everyone could possess a
copy and would then be convinced as to the nature of man, reincarnation and
karma, and the evolution of humanity on the earth,—and could go through life
needing nothing further.’ A person who would like to have that carried out
might perhaps suggest: ‘Why does not the Anthroposophical Movement
distribute ag many copies as possible of a booklet containing these principal
points of view, so that everyone might acquire a copy and be able to convince
himself 2 Why does the Anthroposophical Society adopt the curious method
of holding meetings week after week, assembling all those interested or likely
to become interested for the purpose of constantly recapitulating what might
comfortably be reduced to a sixty-page pamphlet ? What can these Anthro-
posophists possibly have to say to their followers, week after week ? ’

There may be certain orders of mind of our day who would like to have a
small outline of Anthroposophy which they could keep in their waistcoat
pockets, and thus study what it is most important to know. We must, however,
over and over again, bring to mind the fact that nothing can be done in this way
with Anthroposophy. There can be no ‘tabloid-knowledge!’ Although
Anthroposophy does depend both on knowledge and perception, it does not
consist of mere ‘ phrases,’ but of very definite knowledge. But it is not enough
merely to acquire this knowledge as a general conviction according to present-
day methods, and then rest satisfied. For the point in question is not merely
that one should acquire the conviction and know that man lives many lives
and that there are causal conditions which pass over from one life into another,
that there is such a thing as reincarnation, as karma. The beneficial effects
of Anthroposophy do not lie in the spreading of this knowledge, but are felt in
the constant and repeated study of all the details connected with it, and in
allowing the teaching to work upon one’s soul. It does one no good simply to

believe that man lives more than once and that there is such a law as that of
reincarnation, karma, and soon. The mere belief in this will not carry one far.
As regards the real depths of life there is not much difference between the soul
of a man who knows of reincarnation and karma and one who knows nothing
of it. In an anthroposophical sense our soul is only changed if we constantly
study, not only the generalities, but the deeper things that Spiritual Science
can teach us. That is why it is a good thing that we should over and over
again consider how the various details of life appear in the light of the Anthro-
posophical conception. It is by no means sufficient merely to know that there
is a great law of destiny establishing a connection between the past deeds,
feelings and thoughts of a man and his present and future experiences. Anthro-
posophy will only become a life-factor when we can apply this general doctrine
to the different experiences of life, when we become able to put our whole soul
into such a position, that we obtain an entirely new outlook on life. That is
why we will to-day give a little time to studying the law of karma, the great
law of destiny, with reference to the details of life. Things will be spoken of
to-day which are familiar to all; but they will be considered from the stand-
point of karma.

Karma says in a general sense that there is a connection in the spiritual
world between what takes place to-day and what has taken place in the past.
It is not really a good thing to call karma the law of causality, and then to
compare it with the law of cause and effect in the external world. If we wish
to find a comparison for this great law of destiny, we must take care that the
comparison is valid, that it really does represent this law.

Let us take the following as an example. Suppose we have two vessels
containing water—and two metal balls of the normal temperature of the living-
room. We throw one ball into one of the vessels ; and the water remains as it
was. We now take the other ball and having heated it, we throw it into the
other vessel. The water in that gets warm.—Why has the water in the second
vessel grown warm and not in the first 2? Because the ball itself underwent a
change before it was thrown into the vessel ; and having itself been made hot
it brings about the warming of the water. An event occurred which was the
result of another event, the result of the ball having been heated.—The experi-
ences and activities of a former time are connected with the experiences and
phenomena of the present or future.

When we grasp the law of the spiritual connections between past, present
and future in this way, we shall be able to find it confirmed in ordinary life, in
the everyday life around us,—though we ourselves may be very far from having
as yet developed any clairvoyant faculties. For we must always establish as a
golden rule the fact that while a law of the spiritual world can only be proved
by the spiritual investigator through clairvoyant observation, it can always be
corroborated by the experiences of the external world.—People will, however,
have to accustom themselves to observe external life a little more carefully than
usual, if they wish to find confirmation of the law of karma. As arule they do
not see, figuratively speaking, beyond ‘the end of their noses.’ What lies
beyond that, they do not observe. Anyone who observes more profoundly will,
however, find plenty of confirmation between birth and death of the existence

of alawof karma. We will keep as far as possible to the concrete, and take the
following example. A young lad, fifteen years of age, has been torn away by
unforeseen circumstances. from the life he had been accustomed to lead. Till
then the position of his parents had permitted him to study ; now at the age
of fifteen, in consequence, perhaps, of his father having lost his fortune, he
had to go into trade, and was thus pitchforked from one calling to another.
Of course the point here is not that the one calling was in any way better than
the other, but that his life was altered by the change. Now people who con-
template life in the ordinary materialistic sense would probably not expect
anything worthy of note to be brought about by the influence of such an event
in a man’s life, and they would find nothing. But a closer observer would
discover that a young man who goes into trade in that way, will at first feel
pleasure in the change, will like his calling,—that his interest in it grows with
his own growth, as one might say. After a while, however, something remark-
able will become evident. The soul-experiences, the sympathies and anti-
pathies he feels in his work, may, as he reaches the age of eighteen or nineteen,
assume a different form. He may cease to take pleasure in it; his attitude
towards trade may alter. Those who had never heard of Anthroposophy
would feel at a loss to account for what takes place in the young man’s soul.

What then has actually occurred ?—When the young man was fifteen and
was put into the new trade, he took a great interest in it. At first the interest
he felt drove out the feelings and sentiments that had formed within him when
he was following a different line of activity. Those feelings were pushed into
the background. The time, however, comes when these break through again
with all the more strength. It is just as though one compressed an elastic
object ; it can be compressed for a while but it springs back with all the more
rapidity, and the result in the case of the lad may be that the interests which
have been thrust aside for a time, now burst forth with greater zest. When he
is eighteen or nineteen the feelings and sentiments that penetrated his soul,
three years before the change of calling, now come forth anew,—that is, those
he felt at eleven or twelve.—Life can only be explained in such a case by saying :
When this lad was fifteen a turning-point occurred in his life. After that,
things happened whose external effects are felt the same number of years after
the turning-point as the cause of them originated before that time.

Just think how one would be able to help a person as regards his soul-
moods and the difficulties of life, if we were able to ask ourselves :—When did
such a turning-point occur ?—It may have been connected with something
quite private and intimate ; but, if one can place it, we can then reckon back ;
and it will be found that the spiritual effects reveal themselves just as long
after the turning-point, as the cause of them was before that time. This gives
one an insight into karma. Such knowledge is a help in life, and we may say :—
Causes and effects of this nature are connected with definite periods of time
and they are determined by a definite period in life, so that if we count back-
wards and forwards from that point of time, we can find the connection between
cause and effect.

Now this might, of course, be concealed by the intervention of other events.
Someone might say : ‘The example you have just given us is no use; I have

just met a young man to whom it does not apply : "—Well,—I have known a
case of two men having a game of billiards, when a passing waiter bumped into.
the one who was just about to play, thus driving his ball in quite a different
direction from what was intended! The law of cause and effect was not at
fault, but other circumstances intervened. We must reflect that we shall
never learn to know that law if we do not make an exception of the things that
upset it. After the age of fifteen other circumstances may arise which interfere
with the law. We do not become acquainted with laws simply by observing
life, but by acquiring the right method of summing up its phenomena. For
in life things are being constantly disturbed and the laws cannot so easily be
seen ; we can only regulate our life by knowing how these laws are to be found.
When we know the particulars, we can say in the case of the young man whose
life has been so smashed up, that it is the task of those who have his education
in hand to look out for the result. In this way karma becomes a law of life ;
and if we have knowledge of the law, we can make use of our knowledge when
such a case occurs. If we find that we can no longer give the lad what he had
before, we can at any rate become his adviser. But we can only give the right
advice if we know of the existence of such connections as those I have spoken
of,—if we know what is the matter with him and intervene with help just where
and when his particular lack is making itself felt. If we are ignorant of this
law we cannot help him with advice.—When we regard the law of karma as a
law of life it may become an influence in life, we can learn to become counsellors.

The above-mentioned case does not of course exhaust all the combinations
that are possible ; there is another way in which the law of karma is experienced
between birth and death. There is a remarkable connection between the
experiences a man has in the first half of his life and the second,—but this is
not as arule observed. One often makes acquaintance with a man in his youth
and loses sight of him before he reaches maturity ; or else one only meets a man
when he is already old and one knows nothing of his youth ; or even if one did
know him in youth, one may have forgotten what has happened to him since.
Were we to study and compare the beginning and end of people’s lives when
it is possible so to do, we should find the finest confirmation of the law of
karma even in the life between birth and death.

Perhaps you may remember in this connection what I have said in public
lectures about the ‘noble’ anger which appears in youth. I have explained
that a young person is not able fully to judge of an injustice that may be going
on in his vicinity ; he is not yet mature enough. Yet the wise rulership of the
world has so ordained things that our feelings will help us to judge truly before
our reason is mature enough to do so. A noble nature will, even in childhood,
be moved to a righteous anger by anything like injustice, although it may be
only in his feeling that his soul can sense the injustice. He may perhaps not
yet be ripe to judge of it through his intellect. When this noble sense of indig-
nation is to be found in the character of a child we ought to take particular
note of it, for the feeling aroused by the injustice remains in the soul. This
noble anger in early youth permeates the soul and, as life goes on, it becomes
transformed. In the second half of life it reapppears in a different form ; it
appears as the quality of loving kindness and goodness. We shall not often

find that loving, bounteous goodness in the latter part of a man’s life—if other
things are equal and nothing has occurred to distort the sequence—without
finding that it was expressed in his early years by a noble anger aroused at the
stupidity or the ugly things of life. In ordinary life we find a karmic connection
which we may clothe in the form of a picture and say: The hand that never
clenched its fist in noble anger in the first half of life, will not easily be stretched
forth in blessing in the latter half.—Such things will of course only be observed
by one who can see a little further than ‘the end of his nose,’ which is just
what most people do not do. I might give a simple example to show how
little people are inclined to notice such things in life.

I have often mentioned how helpful it is to one who wishes to become
intimately acquainted with life in order to study more deeply the occult con-
ditions of the soul, to have been a teacher at some time. One learns more of
the soul in that way than can be learnt from the ordinary text-books on Psychol-
ogy, which, as a rule, are quite valueless. A knowledge of the soul is acquired
when we do not merely observe and study but have to take the responsibility
of guiding and directing the life of others. One learns a closer observation.
During the long years of my tutorship I not only observed the children of whom
I had charge, but I had many opportunities when other families came to visit
them, of studying other children of all ages, even from the time they came into
the world.

That is now some twenty-five to thirty years ago. You may have noticed
how every five years or thereabouts the doctors have a different opinion as to
what is ‘good’ for people. Well,—at that time they were strongly of opinion
that it was very strengthening for delicate children three, four or five years old,
to drink a glass of red wine every day.—I knew certain children who had their
glass of wine and others who did not, and was able to make my own observations.
For of course at that time, the doctor’s opinion was considered infallible. It
would have been of no use to attempt to go against it. I was thus able to await
results. The children who were then from two to five years old and who were
given the glass of wine to strengthen them, are now young men and women
of twenty-five to twenty-eight years of age. I particularly noticed that only
then the results of this treatment show themselves. All the children who had
the wine have become ‘ Fidgety Phils’; their astral bodies are fidgety, they
have not much control of them ; they do not know how to control the invol-
untary movements of their soul-life. On the other hand, those children who,—
unfortunately, as was then said,—could not have their glass of red wine, have
now become stable natures, less ‘wobbly’ in their astral bodies, or, as
materialists would say, in their nervous systems.

This is an example of the connections that exist in life. It is rather a
trivial one and not particularly illustrative of karma ; but it serves to show that
we should not only look as far as the end of our noses but should survey longer
periods of time, and that it is not sufficient merely to affirm that a remedy will
have such and such an effect, for what is actually brought about can only be
observed by the true observer many years after. Nothing but the great con-
nections and all that leads us to find them can in reality give us the true ex-
planations of the relation between cause and effect in the life of man. Thus we

must try to connect the qualities of the soul with those phenomena of life which
lie apparently very far apart ; and we shall then be able to trace the law of
karma even between birth and death, and shall frequently find that the events
of later life are connected with the experiences of the earlier.

You may remember what I said of the mission of Devotion, of the import-
ance of looking up in feeling to some being or some phenomenon which we do
not yet understand, but which we revere for the very reason that we have not
yet grown up to the level of being able to understand it. I always like to
remind you of how fortunate it is when a man can say: ‘Asa child I heard of a
member of our family who was very greatly respected and honoured. I had
not yet seen him but I had a profound reverence for him. Then one day the
opportunity came, and I was taken to see him. A feeling of profound and
holy awe came over me as I laid my hand on the handle of the door of the
room where this wonderful person was to be seen.’

In later life a man will have good reason to be grateful for that feeling of
reverent devotion ; we owe much gratitude to anyone who aroused a feeling
of reverence in us in our early life. That feeling is of great and special value
in any life. I have known men who exclaim, when such a feeling of reverent
devotion to the Spiritual and Divine is alluded to: ‘I am an Atheist! I can-
not revere anything spiritual !’—We can reply : ‘ Look at the starry heavens !
Could you create those? Look at that wisdom-filled structure and reflect :
there it is surely possible to have a feeling of real, true reverence.’ There are
many things in the world which our understanding has not yet grown up to,
but to which we can look up in reverence. Especially is this the case in youth,
when there is so much we can look up to and venerate, without being able to
understand it.

A feeling of devotion in early youth is transformed into a very special
quality in the second half of life. We have all heard of persons who just by
being themselves, are, as it were, a blessing to those around them. There is
no need for them to say anything particular, their presence is enough. It
seems as though by the very nature of their being, something invisible flows
forth from them to the souls around them. Through their very nature they
radiate a healing and beneficent influence on their environment. To what do
these people owe their power of blessing? They owe it to the circumstance
that in their youth they lived a life in which reverence played a part. Rever-
ence in the early part of their life was transformed in later years into a force
which works invisibly, pouring forth blessing and help. Here again is a karmic
connection which, if we look for it, is clearly and distinctly to be observed.
It was really a true feeling for karma which led Goethe to choose as the motto
for one of his works, these beautiful words : ‘ What we desire in our youth is
fulfilled in old age!’ If one only observes the connections to be found within
short periods of time, it may certainly seem as though one could speak of un-
fulfilled wishes,—but taking longer spans of time, this cannot well be said.
All these things can pass over into and become part of life’s daily round ; and
as a matter of fact, only one who studies in this anthroposophical way is
qualified to educate children, for he will be able to provide them in their early
years with that which, as he knows, they will be able to use in the latter part of

their life. The responsibility that a man assumes when he instils one thing or
another into a child is not realised to-day. It has become the custom to look
down on these things to-day—to speak of them from the high horse of material-
istic thinking. I should like to illustrate this by an experience we ourselves
once had here in Berlin.

A theosophical visitor once came here,—one of those who think if at some
time in their lives they have attended one or two meetings, they are well able
to form an opinion on the whole subject. Such persons desire to learn about a
spiritual Movement like Anthroposophy so as to be able to write objectively
about it. Those who wish to provide the world with newspaper articles, believe
that they can judge of a movement by going to one or two lectures !—This
visitor also went away and wrote. It was curious to read later on in an Ameri-
can paper what was said of one of our anthroposophical meetings. Of course
the description given was remarkably correct !—As I have said, if anyone
really wishes to grasp Anthroposophy it cannot be done in that way ; it is only
possible to penetrate into the life of Anthroposophy if one has the distinct
will really to enter into it in detail and experience. I am only saying all this
to characterise the opinion formed by this visitor, which he did not hide under
a bushel! He said he did not like the way in which Anthroposophy splits up
everything,—dividing the world into physical world, astral world, devachanic
world, and soon. Why should everything be so split up ?—This was after one
or two visits. What a terrible effect it would have had on him if he had heard
of the other divisions! He was of the opinion that it was unnecessary to con-
sider things in this way, but that one should speak of the spiritual world in
general terms.—Why should it be divided into classes ?

That is the way people talk to-day about Education and all other depart-
ments of life ; Science itself talks in the same way. The world talks from an
arbitrary observation of life, not from an objective investigation of the separate
phenonomena. That is why the impressions which all such reforms and pro-
grammes must make on one who is able really to observe the world is so
dreadful ; they arouse a feeling that may be compared to physical pain. Take
any ordinary book on Science to-day ; no matter how conscientiously the con-
clusions are drawn, it is terrible to see how they are put forward, for there is
no conception of the way the phenomena ought to be observed. In the same
way many a man is admired to-day, who blazens forth his opinion, based
simply on his own predelictions or antipathies.

It is of immense importance that Anthroposophy should become aware of
the fact that life must be observed, down to its very smallest details, according
to the methods which the knowledge of karma and other laws put into our
hands. That is why we can only hope for a blessing on the future evolution of
humanity—even as regards the question of Education—if the anthroposophical
views penetrate to the fundamental principles of Education. Karma provides
a firm support for all questions connected with that.

For instance, it is extremely important that we should know the karmic
connections of a certain phenomenon in Education expressed in the view:
‘Tf a child is properly brought up, he must be this or that—that is what I
admire!’ Itseems as though the child were supposed to be a sack, into which

| one can stuff whatever is thought to be right! People wish to stamp their

own nature, with its personal sympathies or antipathies, upon the child. If
they knew the karmic consequences of this, they would take a different view.
They would see that what is stuffed in that way into a child, as into a sack, will
work out karmically by making the grown man or woman a hard, dry nature,
prematurely old, for the very core of their being is killed. If we wish to educate
a child, and to imbue it with any particular quality, we must set to work in a
roundabout way. We must not try to force it upon the child, rather ought we
to arouse a longing for that particular quality, so that the child itself will desire
to acquire it. We must even go a step further. If we know that a particular
food is good for a child we must not force him to eat it, but should try so to
cultivate his taste, that he will ask for it of his own accord. That is a very
different method to that of forcing everything into him as into a sack, saying :—
‘in with you! ’—If we begin to regulate the child’s requirements, we reach .
the very life-germ of his being and we shall see the effects of this working out
karmically in the second half of his life, in his joy in life, in his life-force. In
his later years, instead of being arid and dry, he will remain alive in the centre
of his being.

Tf we consider the law of karma in this way we shall say: ‘It does not
suffice merely to write a little book entitled ‘ There is a law of karma, a con-
nection between the earlier and the later,’ but we must study life itself in the
light of that law. Anthroposophy is only present in its true form when we
enter into all the details of life ; but we must also determine to do this work
without cessation. We must find time to study all the phenomena of life from
the standpoint of Anthroposophy.

The above are a few of the things that indicate the connections to be found
in life between birth and death. Now we can follow out the law of karma
beyond this limit and connect one life with other lives or with one other. We
must connect what we experience to-day, in the present life between birth and
death, with things we experienced formerly, or that we shall experience later,
in subsequent lives. I will to-day confine myself to throwing light on one
important question, from the standpoint of karma in so far as it extends from
one life into another. That is, the question of health and sickness, more es-
pecially the latter.

Many people when they are stricken with some malady, believe that
according to karma they would be right in supposing they have brought it upon
themselves, that it is their fate ; but that alone does not always characterise
karma aright. Where there is a malady we must first of all be quite clear as to
the nature of the trouble in a spiritual sense. It will be well to begin with the
nature of pain, and then pass on to the spiritual understanding of the nature
of illness.

What is the nature of pain? We will now consider external pain, such, for
instance, as we feel when we cut our finger. Why does that hurt ?—We shall
never be able to explain the nature of pain from the spiritual standpoint if we
do not realise that the physical finger is permeated by an etheric and an astral
finger. The outward appearance of the physical finger, its shape, the way in
which the blood circulates in it and the position of the nerves within it,—all

these things are determined by the etheric finger. It is the builder ; and still
takes care that the nerves are in their proper place and that the blood flows in
the right way. The way in which the etheric body carries out these functions
is regulated by the astral body, which permeates the whole. We will now
explain by an external example why it hurts when we cut a finger.

Perhaps it may be a favourite occupation of yours to water the flowers in
your garden once a day ; that gives you a feeling of satisfaction. One morning,
however, you find that your watering-pot is spoilt or perhaps stolen, and you
are not able to water your garden. You are distressed ; what you feel is not
physical pain, yet the fact that you are prevented from carrying out your
favourite occupation may somewhat resemble that ; you cannot carry out an
activity because you lack the necessary instrument. The external lack felt in
this instance, which can only call forth a moral pain, may become a physical
pain in the way that will now be described.

The etheric and astral bodies are organised for the purpose of maintaining
the finger as it now is. I can never cut the etheric finger nor the astral finger.
If I cut my finger in two, the etheric finger can no longer carry out its proper
duty. It is accustomed to have the fingers in their right connection. Now
this connection is interrupted :—just as your activity was interrupted, when
you wanted to water your garden. Thus the astral and etheric bodies are not
able to intervene, and the prevention from exercising the usual activity is felt
in the astral body as pain. But the moment these bodies are interrupted, they
make an extra effort,—just as you, wishing to water your garden, would make
extra efforts to find the watering-pot or the like. In the same way our astral
and etheric bodies must now call forth greater activity in order to repair the
injury. It is:the extra activity thus called forth which is the actual healing
force. Whatever calls forth great activity in the spiritual bodies of man,
produces healing. Now the cause of all illness is, that through some disorder
in the physical or even in the etheric body of man, the spiritual principles are
prevented from intervening in the proper way, they are hindered, as it were ;
and the healing consists in the calling forth of a stronger resistance to the
disorder.—An illness may either be healed, or we may die of it.—Let us
consider both these possibilities from the karmic standpoint.

If the illness takes such a course that we recover from it, it means that in
those members that we have brought with us from former incarnations, we had
stored up such strong life-force that it is able to intervene and heal us. When
we look back at those incarnations we can say :—Not only were we able at the
time to provide for what we normally have in life, but we brought with us a
reserve fund, which we may call up from the spiritual members of our life.

Now, suppose we die. How does the case stand then ?—We must then
say : ‘ When the effort to heal was made, we called upon the strongest forces
Yet whenever we call up these forces,
demanding extra strength from them, it is not without avail, for in so doing we
have had to make stronger efforts. Although we may not be able in this life
to restore order to any one part of our organism, yet it has, none the less,
grown stronger. We desired to resist the malady, but our powers did not
suffice. Yet although they did not succeed, the forces we called up in making

the effort, are not lost. They pass over into the next incarnation and the
injured organ will then be stronger than if we had not had the disturbance.
We are then able to build up the particular organ that brought us a premature
death and to impart to it special strength and regularity. This will be all the
more successfully accomplished if we treat the illness in the right way and yet
are not able to cureit. Insuchacase we must look upon the illness, karmically,
as something which will in a future life prove to have been fortunate. We shall
then have gained a special strength through having fought the malady though
we were unable to cure it.—One ought not, however, on that account, to say :
‘ Perhaps it might be as well to let an illness take its course, for then if we do
not interfere and try to curb it, the forces within us will be stronger and our
karma will have a better fulfilment.—That would be nonsense. The point is
this : the healing must be carried out in such a way that the equalising forces
are able to intervene in as favourable a manner as possible ; in other words, we
must do all in our power to bring about a cure, regardless of whether it be
successful or not. Karma is always a friend, never an enemy to life !

By this example it is proved that the law of karma, which extends from one
life to another, works for the strengthening of life. We can, therefore, say that
if any one organ is particularly strong, this points to a preceding life in which
that organ was once ailing and we were not able to heal it. The forces for so
doing were called up and they have caused it to grow particularly strong now.
Thus we see the events and facts stretching across from one life into another.
If we become conscious in the right way of how it can be strengthened, our
life-kernel will become stronger and stronger. In this way we can attain a more
and more living comprehension of our spiritual life-kernel through the law of
karma.

We now come to an answer to the question : ‘ Why do we meet together so
often?’ We do so, because not only do we enrich our knowledge when we
take in anthroposophical teaching, but also because, if it be given in the right
way, it is able to make our life-kernel more and more strong and forceful. We
pour a spiritual life-sap into all we do, by meeting together and occupying
ourselves with Anthroposophy. Thus Anthroposophy is not a theory, it is a
life-giving draught, an elixir of life which ever anew pours itself into our souls
and of which we know that it will make them grow stronger and stronger. When
Anthroposophy emerges from the position which now, through lack of com-
prehension, it occupies in the outer world, when it really intervenes in our whole
Spiritual life, people will then see how the salvation, even of the physical life, of
the purely external life, will depend on the strengthening which can be acquired
through the study of Anthroposophy. The time will come when anthroposo-
phical gatherings will be the most important sources of strength to man, from
which they will go forth, saying : we are most grateful to these meetings, for
we owe to them our health and strength and the fact that we are constantly able
to strengthen anew our own life-kernel, the core of our being. People will
only realise what the mission of Anthroposophy is, when they feel that it fur-
nishes us with the means of working forcefully on the physical body and making
it sound and healthy. Those who are occupying themselves with Anthro-
posophy to-day, should regard themselves as pioneers for Anthroposophy as a

means of strengthening life. Then only wil] it become what it ought to be, the
right point of attack against something which in many cases is weakening life
to-day.

In conclusion I will draw your attention to one thing more. There is no
phrase more frequently mentioned than ‘inherited tendency.’ No man is
considered an educated man to-day who does not mention it at least two or
three times a week! An educated man must at least make himself acquainted
with what the learned medical profession has ascertained as to ‘ inherited
tendencies.’ When a person does not know what to make of himself, most
people say at once : ‘ he is suffering from an inherited tendency.’ Anyone not
saying that is regarded as badly educated, perhaps among other things an
Anthroposophist !—Here Science begins not only to go astray in theory, but
also to be injurious to life. This is the boundary where theory encroaches on
morality—where it is immoral to hold a wrong theory. Here life’s strength
and security really depend on correct knowledge. What will a man be able to
do who, through the right spiritual conception in his soul, strengthens, fortifies
himself by taking in the elixir of life? No matter what he may have inherited,
these inheritances are only in the physical body or at most in the etheric body.
Through his right conception of the world he will be able to make his own vital
centre stronger and stronger, and will be able to conquer his inherited tenden-
cies; for the spiritual, if present in the right way, is able to equalise the body.
If, however, a man does not strengthen the spiritual core of his being, merely
asserting that the spiritual is the fruit of the physical, he will have a weak
inner nature, he will be the victim of his inherited tendencies ; they will work
harmfully in him. No wonder then, that so-called inherited tendencies have
such dreadful results ; for people are first of all talked into belief of the powers
of such tendencies and are deprived of what counteracts them. The belief in
inherited tendencies is cultivated, and the spiritual conception of the world,—
the best weapon with which to fight them,—is taken away. First the power of
the inherited tendencies is discovered, and by this means they become active.
Not only is this a wrong insight, which arouses a life-destroying activity and
takes the weapons of defence out of the hands of the sufferer, but it is the
beginning of a theory based absolutely on a materialistic conception. Here a
materialistic conception of the world begins to play a part which is in effect
not only theoretically incorrect but immoral.—This cannot be got over, simply
by saying that those who assert such things are mistaken. We need not be too
severe in judging those who put forth these theories. We are not attacking
individual scientists here ; it is quite comprehensible that they are involved in a
line of thought which must lead to such errors—we must admit this in all
fairness. The one, perhaps, may not be able to free himself from scientific
tradition ; another perhaps considers it excusable, for, having a wife and
children he would be in an awkward position if he were to break away from the
ruling opinions. But the whole thing must be considered as a phenomenon
of the times, for Science is beginning not only to spread abroad false theories,
but to take away the life-promoting remedies, the spiritual conception of life,
which is able to fortify and which is alone able to stand up against the physical,
—the power which must otherwise overwhelm man. The physical can only

possess overwhelming power as long as a man does not build up strength in his
spiritual nature. If he does this, a warrior will grow up within him, a warrior
who will defend him against the physical.

We cannot hope that this should come about from one day to the next.
But those who have the right understanding of things will gradually learn the
anthroposophical view of phenomena in face of which man at first seems power-
less. What is not equalised in one life is made good in the long run. If we
contemplate a single life, as well as life from incarnation to incarnation, we shall
see that rightly understood, karma is a law that no longer depresses us, but
rather one which brings us comfort and force whereby to make ourselves
stronger. The law of karma is a law of life, and we must understand it as such.
The point is, not that we should know a few single abstract thoughts, but that
we should study the life-truths of Anthroposophy in the details of life, and never
weary of anthroposophical work, while we permeate ourselves with its different
truths.

If you hold this as an ideal before you, you will be living an anthroposo-
phical life in the true sense of the words. You will then know why it is that we
do not satisfy ourselves with merely reading one or two books, but regard
Anthroposophy as something in which our heart is concerned and which never
ceases to occupy us; something to which we gladly return again and again,
and of which we know that the oftener we return the more it will enrich our
lives.

LECTURE 3.

THE ENTRANCE OF THE CHRIST-BEING INTO THE EVOLUTION
OF HUMANITY.

Berlin, 2nd February, 1910.

In each of the Gospels light is thrown on the great Mystery of Golgotha from
one particular aspect. I have drawn your attention to the fact that the secret
of Golgotha, the secret of Christ Jesus, is presented by the Gospel of St. Mark
from the aspect of the great Cosmological connections, while that of St. Matthew
shows how this secret was developed out of one special people, the ancient
Hebrews. We have seen how that people had to develop little by little, from
generation to generation, from the time of Abraham, so as to bring forth later,
as their flower, the Human Being in whom could be contained the individuality
of Zarathustra or Zoroaster.. We have seen how all the qualities peculiar to
the Hebrew people,—qualities which had to become more and more intensified
in the course of their descent from one generation to the next—were based en-
tirely on the principle of physical inheritance. We were thus able to describe
how the character of the mission of the old Hebrew people differed from that
of others in that it had to inherit certain qualities, which could only be attained
by physical inheritance, and which had gained in intensity from the oldest
generations of the time of Abraham down to Jesus. The Gospel of St. Mat-
thew contains many other secrets, as indeed do all the Gospels. Although in
the course of this Winter we shall open up a few aspects and perspective glimpses
into the Gospels, these can at the most only stimulate the understanding. For
in order to understand the Gospels completely a never-ending spiritual work is
necessary. Light shall be thrown to-day from one particular side on the
Gospel of St. Matthew and it will be shown how the lessons to be drawn there-
from can be usefully applied by those who now form part of the anthropo-
sophical spiritual stream.

If we look back at much of what we have learnt as the years went by, we
shall see that the development of humanity, as described by Spiritual Science,
passes through various crises ; it reaches an important point, then continues
for a while along a more level road, then comes another important point, and
so on. We have often emphasised that one such important point in the de-
velopment of humanity on earth was reached when the Christ-Impulse was
given at the beginning of our era, according to the modern reckoning of time.
When we look back beyond the Atlantean into the Lemurian age, we come to
. that point in time when the first rudiment of the human ego was implanted in

the human being. To understand such an event, the words must be taken very
accurately. For instance, we must make a clear distinction between the state-
ment that in the Lemurian epoch ‘ the first rudiments of the ego were implanted
in the human being,’ and that other, that ‘at the time of the Mystery of
Golgotha began the period, the age, in which humanity became conscious of
this ego.’ There is a great difference between having the ego only in rudiment,
as something working in man, and the knowledge that one possesses it. A
sharp distinction must be made between these things, for otherwise it is impos-
sible to understand the true laws of evolution.

We know that the implanting of the ego in man is part of the collective
development of the earth. The earth passed through the Saturn, Sun and
Moon ages, and then only did it become the structure it is to-day. On Saturn
the germ of the physical body was laid, on the Sun that of the etheric body, on
the Moon that of the astral body, and the germ of the ego was added on the
earth ; this germ was placed in the development of the earth in the Lemurian
epoch. Now something else also took place in the Lemurian epoch, some-
thing that we have always called ‘ the luciferic influence.’ During that epoch
man was endowed with the germ of the ego, which in the course of the subse-
quent earth-periods was destined to attain greater and greater perfection, and
at the same time his astral body was ‘ inoculated ’ with the luciferic influence.
The whole nature of man was altered by this influence, even to the forces and
elements in his etheric and physical bodies. Thus in the Lemurian epoch man
became an entirely different being from what he would have been if there had
been no luciferic influence. We see him altering in two respects : we see him
becoming an ego-being—and we see him becoming a being in whom the luciferic
principle is hidden. Even if the luciferic principle had not set in, the ego-
influence would still have entered man.

Now what took place in the human being as a result of the luciferic in-
fluence having made itself felt in the Lemurian epoch ?

When such a circumstance is described from one aspect or another, I beg
you not to consider that as all that can be said on the subject ; for this may
well be only one point of view, selected for the moment. In the course of years
a great deal has been said as to what the luciferic influence brought about in the
evolution of man ; it is all part of the same, but we cannot repeat it all now.
To-day we will select one point of view only, that describes one aspect ; that
is, that as a result of the luciferic influence man reached a certain point in evolu-
tion earlier than was intended, earlier than the wise guidance of the world had
predestined for him. The luciferic influence caused him to descend more
deeply into the three principles which came over from the former embodiments
of the earth, (the astral body, etheric body and physical body) and he has be-
come more entangled in them than would have been the case if no such influence
had prevailed. Man, with his ego, would have remained nearer to the spiritual
worlds, he would have continued for a longer time to feel himself, through his
ego, a member of the spiritual world, if the luciferic influence had not caused
that ego to descend more deeply into the three principles. We may say that
as a result of the luciferic influence, man descended more deeply on to the earth
in the Lemurian epoch. We can indicate the time when he would have des-

cended thus far to the earth or into physical matter had there been no luciferic
influence ; it would have been in the middle of the Atlantean epoch. If no
luciferic influence had come about man would have been obliged to wait till
then for his descent to earth ; but that influence caused him to descend earlier.
It enabled him to become a free being, able to act in accordance with his own
impulses. He would otherwise have remained entirely dependent upon the
spiritual world until the middle of the Atlantis epoch ; neither would he have
been able before then to distinguish between good and evil, nor act from his
own impulses. He could only have acted from psychic influences, that is
to say, from forces implanted in his soul by Divine Spiritual Beings. The
luciferic beings made it possible for him to begin at an earlier stage to decide
between good and evil; not simply to allow himself to be guided by the laws
of the divine-spiritual world Order, but to decide for himself, creating a kind of
law and order for himself. This fact is expressed in a very profound way in
the description of ‘the Fall,’ which represents in a wonderful imaginative
picture, what I have just stated. The Old Testament describes this by saying
that Divine Spiritual Beings implanted into man ‘a living soul.’ Now if this
living soul had merely remained as it was, man would have had to wait until
later on, until the Divine Spiritual Beings had brought the living soul, or, in
other words, the yet undeveloped ego, to the degree of maturity able to
make distinctions. But now there came the luciferic influences, represented
in the Bible as ‘the Serpent.’ Through these, man himself became able to
distinguish between good and evil, instead of merely instinctively following the
inpourings of Jehovah or the Elohim. From a being who till that time had
been guided and led by Divine Spiritual Beings, man thus became a being able
to decide for himself. The Bible clearly shows that self-decision was brought
to man by the Serpent, or in other words, by the luciferic beings. We then
hear the words ring forth, words spoken from the side of the gods: ‘ Man has
become as one of us!’ Or, if we wish to put this into plainer words :—‘ Man
has acquired something through the luciferic influence which has till now been
reserved only for the gods. It was given to the gods to decide between good
and evil, the beings dependent upon them had no such decisions to make.’

As a result of the luciferic influence man now became a being capable of
making distinctions ; that is, he became a being who developed divine qualities
within him prematurely. In this way and through this influence, something
entered human nature which would otherwise have been withheld from his
evolution till the middle of the Atlantean epoch. As you can well imagine,
man would have been quite different if this descent into matter had not taken
place till then ; his soul would have been more mature for the descent. He
would have descended into matter as a better, a riper, man. He would have
brought quite different qualities into his physical, etheric and astral bodies and
would have possessed a very different power of distinguishing between good and
evil. Because man was already a being able to distinguish between good and
evil from the Lemurian epoch to the middle of the Atlantean epoch, he made
himself worse than he would otherwise have been ; he entered a state of lesser
perfection. He would otherwise have spent all the intervening time in a much
more spiritual way ; but as it was, he passed through it more materially. The

effect of this was that if he had received in the middle of the Atlantean epoch
what the gods had intended him to have, he would have fallen utterly and
completely.

What was it that would have been given to man at the middle of the Atlan-
tean epoch, if he had continued to be guided and directed till that time, instinc-
tively, as it were, by Divine Spiritual Beings ?

He would have then received that which, the luciferic influence having in
the meanwhile intervened, was afterwards given to him through the Mystery
of Golgotha. The Christ-Impulse would have been given to man at the middle
of the Atlantean epoch. Now, however, on account of the luciferic influence,
man had to wait as long a time for the Christ-Impulse as had elapsed between
the intervention of the luciferic influence and the middle of the Atlantean epoch.
There was the same span of time between the entrance of Lucifer and the mid-
dle of the Atlantean epoch, as between that time and the arrival of the Christ-
Impulse. Thus, through man’s having acquired a likeness to the gods before
he was meant to do so, we have to describe a delay of the Christ-Impulse. For
before that could come man had to go through the Earth-Karma due to him
on account of the evil that had entered the earth through the luciferic impulse.
He had to wait, not only till that influence had rendered him able to distinguish
between good and evil, but until, in the course of the earth’s development, all
the consequences of the luciferic influence had come. He had to wait for these,
for then only could the Christ-Impulse descend to the earth. In accordance
with the wise guidance of the earth, man was not intended to escape for ever from
what was to come to him through the luciferic influence, but it would not have
come upon him till the middle of the Atlantean epoch. It must have come in
any case ; but it would certainly not have come in the same form. Not only
did man acquire from Lucifer the power of free decision in everything con-
nected with spiritual things, but also the capacity of enthusiasm for what is
good and noble, wise and great. As human beings, we are not only able coldly
to distinguish between good and evil, but also to feel a warm glow for the noble,
good and wise. That is because something was carried into our astral body,
which, if it had only reached man in the middle of the Atlantean epoch, would
have been taken into the ego, that ego which is capable of judgment. All the
feeling, the idealism and enthusiasm for what is good, for high ideals, we owe to
the circumstance that something entered our astral body before we had acquired
the likeness to God in our ego, before the acceptance of the Christ had taken
place therein. The essential point is that this likeness to God, the possibility
of finding the good within ourselves, had to come to man. If the luciferic in-
fluence had not come, this impulse would have come in the middle of the
Atlantean period, but as things are it came in the age in which Christ Jesus
Himself worked.

Thus through the Christ-Impulse the consciousness came to man that in
his ego he had something of Divine substance and of Divine nature. The
thought that man can take in the Divine in his Ego-being and that this Divine
part can be active therein and distinguish between good and evil, underlies all
the deeper sayings of the New Testament. We may therefore say that with the
reception into the inner nature of man of the Christ-Impulse, it was made

possible for man to say: ‘I must be my own guide for the knowledge of my
existence and the distinction between good and evil.’

Now if we look back to the pre-Christian time, we must say that when the
impulse enabling man to distinguish between good and evil was not yet present,
such distinction, and the judgment of man as to the good, the beautiful and the
true, was necessarily meagre ; it did not actually proceed from his inner being.
He could not, before the Christ-Impulse, have distinguished in his inner being
between good and evil. In the pre-Christian time the decision as to the really
Good, Beautiful and True could only be accomplished through certain beings—
such as the Bodhisattvas—reaching up as time went on with a part of their
being into the divine-spiritual worlds ; the distinction between good and evil
was therefore not made from out of man’s inner being, but in the divine worlds.
Through their companionship with divine spiritual beings these Guides acquired
it and it flowed from them into the souls of men, as though by suggestion. Had
it not been for those guides, men could only have made feeble distinctions be-
tween good and evil in those days. If these guides had depended on their own
hearts alone, they could not have done this either ; but because they descended
into those depths of the soul which were not yet accessible to man and entered
in their ego-being into the kingdoms of heaven, they received the impulse
needed by man to help him to decide between good and evil at the time of his
need, that the good might nevertheless be implanted in the earth by way of
preparation. Thus, before the time of Christ, man was a being still insufficiently
prepared to acquire the likeness to God. On this account, since the Lemurian
epoch, everything done by man was done less well than would otherwise have
been the case. This applies above all to what regards himself. His astral,
etheric and physical bodies, which but for the luciferic influence would have
remained more spiritual, were, through that influence, less well formed, made
more material. That was the reason of all the evil which developed in the life
of man as time went on. In the course of a very long time have these evils
developed.

From the Lemurian epoch to the Mystery of Golgotha they developed in
the physical, etheric and astral bodies. In the astral body a high degree of
egotism was developed ; in the etheric body the possibility of mistaken judg-
ment and the possibility of lying. If man had remained under the influence of
divine-spiritual beings, acting instinctively in accordance with their impulses,
he would not to-day, when he desires knowledge of the world around him, be
able to fall into error, nor could he be led into untruth. Thus did the tendency
to lying and the danger of error find place in the development of man ; and since
the spiritual is always the origin of the physical, and because the luciferic in-
fluence and its consequences ate their way more and more deeply into the etheric
body during incarnation after incarnation, the possibility of disease entered the
physical body. Illness is the evil that entered the physical body through that
development ; but something of still greater significance has come. Jf man had
not been subject to these influences, if he had not allowed them to work upon
him, he would never have supposed that anything more than a change of life
takes place when the physical body falls away from us ; consciousness of death
would not have come to him. If man had descended less deeply into matter

and had kept hold of the threads uniting him with the divine-spiritual, he would
have been aware that when the physical sheath is laid aside, a new form of
existence begins ; but he would never have looked upon that as a loss, as the
end of an existence he had grown fond of. Everything in evolution would have
taken on a different aspect.

Man descended more deeply into matter, he thus made himself more free
and independent, but he also thereby made his own development more limited
than it would have been.

Everything lacking in man will be made good by the Christ-Impulse ;
but one must not expect that to be done in a short time nor even in a compara-
tively short time. A very long time elapsed between the Lemurian epoch and
the Mystery of Golgotha. Slowly and gradually, during incarnation after
incarnation, came egotism, error and lying, disease and the realisation of death.
Man is being led back into the spiritual world, so to speak, with the qualities he
has acquired “‘ from below.” The re-ascent will be a quicker progress than the
descent ; but it cannot be expected that in one or two incarnations man will
be enabled, through what he can take in of the Christ-Impulse, to overcome sel-
fishness and to heal his etheric body to such an extent that all danger of lying
and error is at an end, still less can he be expected to be able to work healingly
on his physical body. All this must go on slowly and gradually; but it is
going on. Just as man has been led down into all those qualities by the luci-
feric impulse, so will he be led up out of them by the Christ-Impulse. Selfish-
ness will be transmuted into selflessness, lying into truthfulness, the danger of
error into absolute certainty and true judgment. Illness will become the found-
ation for more complete health ; the illness we have overcome will be the germs
of greater good-health ; and when we have gradually learnt to understand
death in such a way that the Death at Golgotha works as a prototype of death
in our own soul, death will then have lost its sting. Man will then know why
from time to time he must lay aside his physical covering, in order to rise higher
and higher in the course of his embodiments. In particular, the Christ-Impulse
brought with it the impulse to make good something connected with man’s
knowledge and observation, with his knowledge of the world.

We have said that man has become more entangled in matter, less perfect in
his three bodies than he would have been if there had been no luciferic influence ;
this caused him to be possessed by an urge to sink more deeply into material
existence, to soak himself more completely in mere matter. This refers more
especially to his knowledge, but even that only came about slowly and gradu-
ally. Man did not, as soon as the luciferic influence made itself felt, immediately
sink down so deeply as to close all the doors into the spiritual world behind him.
He still remained, for a long time, in connection with the spiritual world from
which he grew forth and with which he would have remained in connection with
his whole being, if the luciferic influence had not come. He long remained a
participator in it; for a long time he continued to feel that his finer, more
spiritual instincts were guided by the threads from the divine-spiritual
world. For a long time he still co:tinued to feel that his impulse was
not a merely human one, it was as though the Gods had been at work
behind it. That was more particularly the case in more ancient times. Man

was driven slowly into matter and he thus gradually lost the consciousness of
the divine.

Those spiritual movements and world-conceptions of humanity which had
knowledge of these things, have also hinted at this. They said: There was
once upon a time an age in which man was driven some way into material exist-
ence by the luciferic influence—though not so far as to prevent the divine in-
fluence from still having a powerful effect upon him. In the early ages of man’s
development this was known as the ‘ Golden Age.’ This is no fanciful concep-
tion: “ Golden Age’ is simply the expression used by those men of olden times
who still had an inkling that there had been something like a primeval age of
humanity,such as has just been described. This Golden Age, known to Eastern
philosophy as Krita-Yuga, lasted, comparatively speaking, much longer than
the Ages we still have to describe. After the Golden Age came the so-called
‘Silver Age.’ Man was pushed further down into the physical world ; but the
process went on slowly and gradually. Even then the doors of the spiritual
world were not yet completely closed. Man still had intense moments in which,
in a dreamy sort of clairvoyance, he saw the Gods at work behind his instincts.
Man could no longer be called a companion of the Gods in this Silver Age, but
he could still perceive them standing behind him. LEastern philosophy calls
this age, Treta-Yuga. Then came an Age which extends into our own Post-
Atlantean period ; its last stragglers extended into historical times when there
still were people gifted with the old dream-like, twilight consciousness. The
consciousness of a spiritual world from which man had come forth, still existed ;
though only as a kind of memory remaining over from former incarnations. It
was just as when we now remember our own childhood, our youth, and our
present age. “In childhood we had direct experience of our childish happenings ;
in like manner man still experienced in Treta Yuga in a direct way, the impulse
of a divine-spiritual world. In the Age following on that, known as the ‘ Bronze
Age,’ what man had was more like a memory. It might be compared with the
way a grown man contemplates his childhood ; for we say: ‘ I experienced my
childhood ; it was not a dream!’ That was like the state of things in the
Third Age. Men then knew: ‘ In earlier ages we had experience of communion
with the Gods ; that is now nothing buta memory!’ Ihave explained at some
length how in the Old-Indian period of civilisation the memory of the Atlantean
epoch worked retrospectively, thus enabling the holy Rishis to reveal their
great divine teachings. This Bronze Age is known in Eastern philosophy as
Dvapara-Yuga. That is followed by an Age in which all memory of the divine-
spiritual world is lost, when man, with his knowledge and perception, is entirely
given up to the physical world. That age began about the year 3101 B.c. In
Eastern philosophy it is known as Kali-Yuga, ‘ the dark age’ ; because man had
then lost all connection with the spiritual world and become completely one
with the physical world. I wish expressly to note that I am now using these
expressions for smaller divisions of time, but they can also be applied to larger
spans. We are now speaking of the divisions of time corresponding to the
smaller ages, and we make Kali-Yuga begin, as does Indian philosophy, with
the year 3101 before our era. The Age was then being prepared in which men
were taught only to see that which conceals the divine-spiritual world as by a

33 ©

veil, by a covering ; when they only perceived the external physical. At the
beginning of Kali-Yuga there were still many who could either see or recollect
the divine-spiritual world, but for normal humanity the time set in when they
could only see the physical world of nature.

That was the descent of man to Kali-Yuga. It was the time of deepest
descent. Into that had to come the impulse for re-ascent. That is why this
impulse, the Christ-Impulse, had to come during the Kali-Yuga, in the ‘ dark ’
age.

This Christ-Impulse was prepared for by the religion of Jahve or Jehovah ;
for this religion taught man how little reliance could be placed on his former
decisions. During the time which extended from the old Lemurian epoch to
the Revelation on Mount Sinai, we have that age in which man was given the
power to choose good or evil, while at the same time he became liable to err in
judging between them, and became more and more likely to bring on earth that.
which is known as ‘ Sin.’ Sin then ate its way into the life of the earth. Man
became ‘like to the Gods,’ but.in return for this he acquired qualities which
were in nowise ripe for the likeness to God. What had to happen then? First
of all man had to be shown what the Godhead expected from him if he was to
become a self-conscious ego. This was shown to him by the announcement
made on Mount Sinai in the ‘Ten Commandments.’ The people then heard
proclaimed through Moses: ‘ The good and evil thou hast already developed
are not sufficient. I will show thee how these Commandments should sound if
thou hadst not descended, and in return for thy defective qualities, received the
power of judging between good and evil.’ The Decalogue, the law, given to man
on Sinai, was given to man as he had then become ; so that out of the spiritual
worlds man heard sounding forth that which was right, in contrast to what he
had insufficiently developed. The Ten Commandments stand forth as a law
of iron, as a torch, showing man what he had not become. He had to submit
himself to that law, with all he had become. Man could not at first have sub-
mitted to the Ten Commandments, because he had become lacking in decision,
lacking in self-guidance. Therefore, they had to be given to him by one who
was inspired ,—by Moses—that is to say, they were given him from above by
Divine administration. They were, however, given in such a way that they
were intended for the ego. They told man how an ego must act, if it is to
attain the goal of humanity.

In the lecture on ‘ The Ten Commandments of Moses’ (16th November,
1908) this is traced out in detail. Therein is first shown the right attitude of
the ego to the spiritual worlds ; this is contained in the first three Command-
ments. The next ones refer to man’s conduct towards his fellow-men in act
and deed, and the last Commandments refer to the control of his feelings and
sensations. The Ten Commandments give instructions for the education of
the ego. This was the preparation by means of which the ego was to learn in
its most inward being how to give itself the impulse after having descended into
Kali-Yuga, into the age of darkness. At first man was to be given the Law
from above. The Law of one’s own ego could however, only become what it
was to be, when that ego takes into itself the great Prototype of Golgotha,
saying : ‘ If I take into my soul such thinking as was thought by the Being Who

offered Himself in sacrifice on Golgotha,—if I take into myself such feelings as
were felt by the Being Who offered Himself as sacrifice on Golgotha,—if I
take into myself such willing as was willed by the Being Who offered Himself in
sacrifice on Golgotha, then will my being come to a decision within itself to
develop increasingly a likeness to God, it will then no longer have to follow
the Outer Law, the Ten Commandments, but an inner impulse, its own Law.’

Thus Moses first put before mankind the Law, but Christ gave them the
Prototype and the strength which the soul ought to take in, whereby to develop
itself. Hence all the spiritual impulses were to be taken into the innermost
of the soul, even into the ego itself ; they were all to be deepened into inward-
ness through Christ Jesus. That could only take place if men thought as fol-
lows, and Christ Jesus radiated it forth as an impulse :—

Man has descended into the dark age, into Kali-Yuga. Before that dark
age men saw into the spiritual world with a dim twilight consciousness. They
were then able, not merely to make use of the instruments of the physical body,
but when they observed the physical world through their eyes, ears and so on,
they perceived the spiritual surrounding all things, flowers, plants, stones, etc.
As regards this observation of the spiritual, men were rich in those days. In
the older times the spirit was bestowed on them ; whereas, in the dark age, as
regards the spirit they were reduced to beggary ; for the spirit was no longer
bestowed upon them. They had become poor in spirit. Kali-Yuga came
upon them more and more, that time when men had to say to themselves: In
the old days things were different, the spirit was then bestowed on men ; they
were able to look up into a spiritual world, they were then rich in spirit ; the
kingdoms of heaven were then accessible to them. Now men are pressed down
into the physical world. The gates of the spiritual world are closed to human
senses, and no view of the kingdoms of heaven is open to the physical body.
But Christ was able to say : ‘ Lay hold of the ego, where it must now be ap-
prehended! Then will the Kingdoms of Heaven draw near to you. They will
arise within your own ego. Though the spiritual light may be concealed from
your eyes behind the external light which is perceptible to the senses, though
spiritual sound may be concealed from your ears behind physical sound ; yet,
when Christ Himself shall raise you, ye shall find the Kingdoms of Heaven
within you!’ Unhappy were those who had become poor in the dark age,
who had become beggars as regard the spirit. They can now become blessed,
the impulse having been given through which Christ is able, from the spiritual
world, from the Kingdoms of Heaven, to penetrate into the very ego or ‘I’
of man. Therefore, with respect to man’s poverty of spirit, the highest Christian
proclamation is this: ‘ From henceforward, blessed are they who are beggars
in spirit, who no longer receive the spirit bestowed upon them according to the
old conception. Henceforth, they can be blessed if they take in the Christ-
Impulse ; for, through the developing of their ego, the Kingdoms of Heaven
will be within them.’

Let us pass on to the etheric body, which is the builder of the physical
body. What has entered that? Illness only expresses itself in the physical
body. The trouble itself is first in the etheric body ; that then expresses itself
in a subsequent incarnation as illness in the physical body. ‘ Now, however,

35 *

something has entered the world,’ so Christ Jesus had to say, “whereby an
impulse may arise within gradually to clear away the affliction from the etheric
body. Blessed may those now be who have an affliction attached to their
etheric bodies if they take up the Christ-Impulse ; for they have something
within them which lifts them above the suffering and teaches them to find
inner comfort, the inner paraclete, the inner comforter ! ’

Now what had the astral body become through the luciferic influence ?
It had become less perfect than before. It had been given the possibility which
we have described as a good quality : of being able to be aglow for what is great
and good, to feel enthusiasm for the sublime treasures of the true, the beautiful
and the good. On the other hand it has to purchase this at the price of feeling
little or no sympathy or antipathy for the treasures of the earth. But a man
who takes up the Christ-Impulse learns to control the astral body, which stirs
his physical body to opposition to the treasures of the earth, he learns to bring -
it under the power of the spirit ; and in so doing he becomes happy or blessed.
‘ Blessed will he be who makes his astral body indifferent to the things of earth ;
which will thereby fall to his share. For when he is allafire for the things of
earth, feeling both emotion and sympathy or antipathy for them, he casts
away that which they might become to him ; but when the astral body is brought
under the power of the spiritual and he grows indifferent to the things of earth,
the Kingdom of Earth is added as a reward.’

Let us now ascend to that which works as sentient soul within the astral
body. Herein we still possess in a dim sort of way, a ruling ego, an ego which
has not yet wholly emerged and hence is still developing the most egotistical
passions. As long as the ego is still really within the sentient soul, it develops
the most selfish egoism. The wish that others should have the same as we
have is lacking. Egoism dims the sense of justice, for the ego wants everything
for itself. But if the ego transmutes itself in imitation of the Christ-Impulse,
it will hunger and thirst after justice for all the beings around us. ‘ Blessed
will be those who hunger and thirst after the feeling of justice in their sentient-
soul; for they shall be satisfied.” They will be able to bring about conditions
all over the world corresponding to the proper new spirit of justice in the depths
of the soul.

Let us further ascend to the intellectual or mind soul. This principle
brings about to a still greater extent the consideration of one man for another,
not merely as a feeling of justice such as is produced by the sentient soul, but
as compassion, a true compassion for the sorrows of others and a sharing in
their joy. One who takes in the Christ-Impulse grows to feel what others feel,
not only what he feels himself; he immerses himself in the ego of others
and in so doing feels bliss in his intellectual or mind soul. Blessed is he who
develops fellow-feeling ; for only by feeling himself within the soul of others,
does he stimulate them to feel themselves in him. He will receive the sympathy
of others when he himself radiates fellow-feeling for them. ‘ Blessed are those
who feel with others, for others shall feel with them.’

You will now see how, having gone a little further in our study of these
connections, we are able to understand in a different way from the very depths
of the nature and being of man, those words in St. Matthew’s Gospel, generally

known as the Sermon on the Mount. Each sentence of the Sermon on the Mount
relates to one of the nine principles of man. In the next lectures we will go
further into this. The Sermon on the Mount must become transparent to our
spiritual eyes as that deed of Christ Jesus by means of which he turned what
was contained in the Old Law of Moses into something quite inward, an inner
impulse enabling man’s ego to become active, as it must become in all the nine
principles of man. For if the ego takes up the Christ-Impulse it affects all these.

Thus we see the profound truth of what I have already indicated here
once before: that in Kali-Yuga Christ made the ego of man capable of dis-
covering something in the physical world which can lead man up into the
spiritual world, into the Kingdoms of Heaven. Christ has made the ego of
man a participator in the spiritual world. On ancient Saturn the physical
body was taken straight out of the spiritual world. It was still within that
world, because the physical body was at that time much more spiritual and
was not aware that it could separate from the spiritual worlds. The etheric
body was added on the Sun and the astral body on the Moon, but only on the
earth was it made possible—through the development of the ego—to set one-
self free from the divine-spiritual. In consequence of this, as the ego must be
led back again, God had to descend to the physical plane, and on that plane
show man how to find the way back to the Kingdoms of Heaven.

A most important event was brought about through the Christ-Impulse.
Now just ask yourselves this question : Did all those living at the time when
Christ Jesus worked on earth know that such an important event was taking
place? Just reflect that Tacitus—the great historian, mentions the Christians
as an almost unknown sect. A hundred years after Christ he only mentions the
Christians as‘a sect living in a side-street in Rome, whose teacher was a certain
Jesus ; they are simply mentioned as living there. For a long time after the
Christ-Event many people in Rome believed Jesus was a contemporary of
theirs, as though he had only just appeared. In short, important events can
take place in the evolution of man, without contemporaries noticing that
anything has happened. The most important things may come about and
pass unobserved if people do not cultivate the understanding for them. They
would then miss the experience, and as far as that was concerned they would be
barren and dried up. ‘Change your hearts! The Kingdoms of Heaven have
approached!’ That was the proclamation of John the Baptist and of
Christ Jesus Himself. They hinted to those who had ears to hear that some-
thing most important was occurring. That nothing is known in the world of
an important happening is no proof that it is not taking place. Those whose
business it is to-day to point out the signs of the times, are aware of what is
taking place to-day. They must point to an occurrence which, though not one
of the most cogent, is yet important. True it is that just in our own time
something of infinite significance is developing. Just as John pointed to Christ,
and Christ Himself pointed to the approach of the Kingdoms of Heaven, to
the ego ; so must we to-day point to another important event.

Christ descended once to the earth in a body of flesh ; He spent the first
years of our era on earth, in the flesh. In accordance with the wise guidance
of our world-evolution it is not ordained that men should again see Christ in

the flesh, as a physically incarnated man ; nor is it necessary that they should.
For Christ will not return in the flesh. Why? Because what we call the
dark age—the Kali-Yuga—was completed at the end of the ninteenth century,
and because with the twentieth century began a new age, in which men must
prepare to develop new capacities, those faculties which were lost in the dark
age. Slowly and gradually these are being prepared. These faculties will
develop so far that single individuals will be here who will possess them as
natural tendencies. These faculties will be seen in a certain number of persons,
particularly between the years of 1930 and 1940, and by means of these a num-
ber of people will enter into new relation with the Christ.

This indicates an important point in human development. Spiritual
Science is here to open the understanding of men to these new faculties which
will be developed in the world of men. Anthroposophy has not come into the
world because a few people are in sympathy with it and would like to make it.
further known ; it has come because it is wanted if people wish to understand
what will take place in the first. half of this century. For it is only by means
of that which Spiritual Science can give mankind that it will become capable
of understanding this. When people become capable of perceiving in the
spirit that which will then occur, they will also be incapable of confusing that
event with their mistaken representations. or as materialism spreads further,
it will extend even to the spiritual conception of the world where it will have a
particularly evil influence. In that realm it might tend to prevent men from
understanding what should be spiritually comprehended. What should really
be grasped in the spirit they will seek in the world of matter. Because we are
to enter into a new relation to Christ in the course of the first half of our cen-
tury, it must over and over again be emphasised during the next decades and
until the event occurs, that false Messiahs, false Christs will arise who will
knock at the doors of those who are only able to be materialists in the realms
of Spiritual Science, and can only imagine a new relation to Christ if they see
Him before them in the flesh. A number of false Messiahs will turn this to
their own use, saying : ‘ Christ has reappeared in the flesh ! ’

Anthroposophical wisdom has the duty of preparing the relation which
can be attained during the first half of our century by purely human capacities.
The responsibility of the Anthroposophical effort becomes ever greater and
greater, for it has to prepare for a coming event which will only be understood if
Anthroposophy makes its way into the souls of men and thus becomes fruitful
for the further development of humanity. The alternative is that men will
neglect to accept and make use of the instrument of Spiritual Science, through
which this Event can be understood ; in that case it will pass humanity by
uncomprehended. For if men so entirely reject Spiritual Science that nothing
of it should remain, they would not know that this event is there or would inter-
pret it wrongly. ‘The fruit of this event would then be lost to the future of
humanity, and man would thus be thrust down into dreadful misery.

I have thus hinted at a new relation to the Christ which is germinating in
the souls of men and which they will be able to evolve in a comparatively near
future.

LECTURE 4.
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.
Berlin, 8th February, 1910.

To-day we must again refer to the old and important teaching contained
in the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, and, starting from that we shall
carry forward our vision to our own times and the near future.

The Sermon on the Mount as reported in St. Matthew’s Gospel can only be
understood if we grasp the whole spirit of it, in the sense of the development of
all humanity. -Let us briefly recapitulate what was put before us in the last
lecture : that the old dim clairvoyance of man had gradually receded and that
the capacities and knowledge of man had to be more and more limited to the
physical plane, and that for this reason the connection of man with the Spiritual
worlds had to be based on an event on the physical plane. If we recollect all
this we shall understand that the Divine-Spiritual Being whom we have charac-
terised as the Christ, had to embody Himself in a physical body at the very
time when the perception of man had become limited to the physical plane. This
was done so that the most essential part of the life of this Divine-Spiritual
Being could be described in words and expressions used on the physical plane.
The important point is not so much that few persons (in comparison to the
whole of humanity) were able to have a bodily perception and observation of
Christ Jesus, as that what is related of Him is a presentation of events on the
physical plane. For it cannot be said that the earlier records of other Divinities
related in words belonging to the physical plane refer to actual physical events.
In everything that we are told of these, words can only be useful as indications ;
—-for what occurred with respect to these Divinities can only be understood
by one able to apply the words to the events of higher planes. The life of
Christ Jesus can however, be understood by anyone who can apply what is told
to the events of the physical plane. In reference to this we can say: The
Christ-Being descended into a physical embodiment, into complete life in a
physical body. That had to be because human capacities at that time were of
this nature, and because the human ego as such had to become conscious of its
being if evolution was to go forward in the right way.

We have seen that the most important of the older intermediaries for the
event of Golgotha was Zarathustra or Zoroaster. In order that he might be-
come what he was to be, at that time a body had to be prepared, containing an
extract, as it were, of what had been given to a whole people, a people who had
to give to humanity the qualities which can only be communicated through
physical inheritance. We have seen that the most essential thing in the old

Hebrew people was the duty of developing in successive generations, from father
to son, from son to grandson, and so on, those qualities which had to be inherited
in a continually increased form, till they finally appear in their highest and best
form in the body which was derived by inheritance from Abraham and Solomon
and which was finally occupied by Zarathustra. We have a great deal more to
learn through our studies before we shall be able to understand the full mission
of the old Hebrew people, in all its details. This necessitates that we should
gradually learn how the qualities needed for the body of Jesus were more and
more ennobled in the course of the descent from generation to generation. It
had to be made as perfect as possible for the fulfilment of its world-historical
mission, for that mission could only be carried out if all that pertained to the
body of the Solomonian Jesus Being was as perfect as possible in itself as re-
gards those qualities. Now we know that the four principles of man’s nature,
the physical body, etheric body, astral body and ego, are active in every human
body ; and that in time to come Spirit-self, Life-Spirit and Spirit-man, will
also be active therein. This must not be taken to mean that the activity of
the astral body will suddenly cease, or that the later is not being prepared in the
earlier. In a certain respect everything that follows later must be prepared
in what went before. Of course man cannot of his own strength so work upon
himself to-day that the Life-Spirit, for instance, could come to particular
expression within him ; but in him work other Divine Spiritual Beings, with an
activity which may be called an activity of the Life Spirit. This applies also
to Spirit-man. Therefore, all the seven principles of the body, or rather of the
human organism of Jesus of Nazareth had to be ennobled, as regards the
qualities which had to be dealt with. This required very special preparation.
This preparation may to-day give us an inkling of the secrets concealed in the
development of humanity and of the earth.

The germs of the perfection in the body of Jesus of Nazareth had to be
prepared long before. We have seen how during the first period (extending from
Abraham to Solomon or David), the generations were worked upon just as a
man’s physical body is worked upon during the time between his birth and the
change of teeth. This work was so performed by the forces active behind
evolution, that at a certain time there was actually an ancestor of Jesus who
already contained within him, capacities as nearly perfect as possible, and these
re-appeared in the body which became the vehicle of Zarathustra. Thus in an
ancestor of Jesus the foundations of a right development of all the seven prin-
ciples of man’s nature were present. In other words: If we trace back the
ancestry of Jesus, we must find one ancestor who possessed the germ of the
seven-principled-nature—although not so perfectly developed as in the body of
Jesus of Nazareth—yet present in rudimentary form. Although not expressed
in their external tradition, the secret doctrine of the ancient Hebrews was
cognisant of this fact. It was aware that once upon a time a man lived of
whom it must be said that the seven principles worked in him in such a way
that they had to be described as quite peculiarly worthy of note! The Initiates
of the old Hebrew secret doctrine actually pointed to an ancestor of Jesus of
Nazareth, knowing that he possessed these seven human principles in a quite
remarkable degree !

They called the ego of this ancestor, ‘ Itiel,’ to indicate that in him the ego
must have possessed that force (for Itiel signifies something like ‘ possessor of
force’). He must have possessed that dauntlessness, which would, when carried
down through the generations, become the proper ego-vehicle for the high
being who was to reappear in Jesus of Nazareth. In the same way they called
the astral body of this ancestor ‘ Lemuel’ ; that would more or less describe an
astral body so far developed that it does not merely feel the law, the conformity
to law, outside itself, but feels that it bears the law within it. They called the
etheric body of this ancestor ‘ Ben Jage’ ; that would signify an etheric body
as far as possible transmuted within, which having attained a certain perfection,
is able to take habits into itself. The physical body of this ancestor they
called ‘ Agur’, because the physical activity, the capacity of this ancestor on
the physical plane, consisted in his having assimilated everything brought over
from old tradition ; for ‘ Agur’ signified ‘a collector.’ All the ancient con-
ceptions of the world, all the old traditions, were gathered together in Jesus ;
and the rudiments of this were already developed in this ancestor. What
worked as Spirit-Man in this ancestor, was called, (because the Divine-Spiritual
Beings gave loving attention to their work on the rudiments of Spirit-Man,)
‘ Jedidjah ’, a word signifying something like ‘ the darling of the Gods’. What
worked in this ancestor as Buddhi or Life-Spirit, was called ‘Kohelet ’; for it
was said: ‘In this ancestor there must have worked a Life-Spirit which was
able to act as a teacher to the whole nation, so that its content could be poured
out to them all’. And finally, Manas or Spirit-self in this ancestor was known
by the word, ‘Salomo’, which signifies inner balance, for they said: Sucha
Spirit-self must have had within it the rudiments of being inwardly whole, of
being in a state of balance within. Thus this ancestor, who is usually known
only by the name of Schelomo, Schleimo, or Solomon, has three principal names :
Jedidjah, Kohelet, Salomo; and four additional names: Agur, Ben Jage,
Lemuel and Itiel, for these names signify the four coverings, whereas the three
first names signify the divine inner part. The secret doctrine of the old Hebrews
had seven names for this person. If later, people were dissatisfied with Solomon,
as was the case even among certain sects of the Jews themselves. (whether
rightly or wrongly cannot be gone into here), this can easily be accounted for. In
Solomon there were great, important rudiments, which were to be further
propagated for a distinct purpose. Now an individual human being, at a
definite stage of his evolution, does not always display in his outer life the germs
of the qualities he is to bequeath to his descendants ; perhaps for the very
reason that such great forces are within him he may even be more subject to
failure in this direction. The lack of morality to be observed in Solomon is
not in contradiction to what the old Hebrew secret doctrine saw in him ; on
the contrary it would explain his failings.

Thus the old Jewish secret doctrine looks back to an ancestor of Jesus,
fully conscious of his significance for the whole mission of their people. All
that was but rudimentary in this personality, was propagated by descent
through the generations, and appeared in its essence when it was required and
made use of in the course of the world’s history. This may give us an inkling
of the secrets, regulated by laws, which lie behind the evolution of mankind.

Now if the mission of the old Hebrew people pre-eminently consisted in
the fact that through the physical inheritance certain capacities are, as it were,
instilled into their blood capacities to be given to all mankind from the
Spiritual world through this people, then, at the time of the appearance of
John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth, humanity ought to have been suffic-
iently advanced to be able, through these ennobled capacities, to reascend into
the Spiritual world ; in other words it ought to have been able to take up
the Christ-Impulse. I have told you all this to show what preparations were
necessary in order, in the development of physical humanity, to create a sheath
capable of enclosing the Christ-Being.

We can now perhaps feel and realise the intrinsic nature of the progress
in the mission of humanity brought about by the descent of the Divine mission
into physical matter, in the Jewish people. We can feel how the Divine was
carried down into the depths of physical matter, in order that from this turning-
point man might reascend so much the higher, from the now finer physical
into the Spiritual. The ascent into the Spiritual had to begin from that
time. For this however, an impulse had to be given to mankind which
should to some degree place all that man can desire or expect from evolution
into that deepest centre in man’s being which can be designated as the
ego. Through Christ,the impulse was to penetrate to the depths of man’s
inner being, out of the body of Christ there spoke such an impulse as called
to the deepest part of man’s nature. What was to be made different by this
impulse ?

Before this impulse came, all that brought happiness to men, that gave
them bliss and made them feel ‘ filled with the Divine,’ came to them in a sense
from without; they expected it to come thence. Tf we do not merely
study the history of the world from external documents but according to what
the Spiritual records can give us, we must say that we look back to ancient
times, when man ascended to the realm of Spiritual beings through arousing
in himself,—whether by normal means or not,—the gift of clairvoyance. But
this vision awoke in a dreamy way ; Divine-Spiritual forces worked in it and the
ego was suppressed. Man was more or less outside his ego. Although in his
normal state he was not so conscious of his ego as he became later, yet he was
then in the age when the spirit worked within him and carried him outside
himself, without his ego into the Spiritual world. He yielded himself completely,
either to the external Divine-Spiritual or to the Divine-Spiritual within his
soul. But during that time of ecstasy, of enchantment, he was not in any sense
conscious of his condition. The time was still to come when man would realise
the relation to the spirit in his own ego, and thence permeate the deepest
core of his being with the consciousness : I belong to a Divine-Spiritual kingdom.
That could only come about through Christ pouring His own Being into the
earth-being, so that the ego could permeate itself with what was the pattern
of Christ. That enabled man to say : ‘I am now in a Spiritual realm, in the
Kingdoms of Heaven with my ego,’ whereas man formerly entered the
Kingdoms of Heaven while outside it. ‘The Kingdom of Heaven has drawn
near,’ was the teaching given. For this the minds of men had to be changed,
they were no longer to believe that they could only enter the Spiritual world

in a state of ecstasy, for they would be able to find their relation to the
Kingdoms of Heaven in full ego-consciousness.

We can see that this had to take place, for the old clairvoyant condition
had, in the course of thousands of years, grown worse and worse. Whereas
in olden times man, when in ecstasy ascended to the good Divine-Spiritual
powers, that which still remained of the old ecstatic condition at the time of the
founding of Christianity, had become such that when man was now outside
himself he did not ascend to the good but to the evil spiritual powers. That
is the great difference between the two states of development. In ancient
times when man dreamily rose into the Spiritual worlds by the suppression of
his ego—‘ mediumistically’’ as we should say to-day—he was then in the com-
pany of the good Spiritual beings. This had become different at the time
when man was to find the way into the Kingdom of Heaven with his ego ;
when he now sought or brought about the states of ecstasy, they are described
as being states of ‘ obsession,’ which brought him into connection with evil
hostile spiritual powers. So at the time of the appearance of Christ Jesus the
following had to be proclaimed as a healing doctrine: ‘It is not right for you
to try without your ego to get into a condition in which you can become aware
of the Spiritual worlds ; the right way now is to seek contact with the Divine-
Spiritual worlds in the deepest core of your being !’

This is essentially the teaching contained in the Sermon on the Mount of
St. Matthew’s Gospel. We might re-write it thus: In olden times there was a
dream-like clairvoyance. In this man was, in ecstasy, transported into the
Spiritual worlds. At that time he was rich in Spiritual life ; he was no beggar
in the spirit as he became when Christianity was founded. When in olden
times he was filled with the spirit, with what the Greeks called ‘ Pneuma’, he
was transported into the Spiritual worlds. Christ could not now say : ‘ Blessed
or God-filled are those who in their ecstatic states become rich in the spirit,
for these are the very ones who will certainly be healed’ ! He now had to pro-
claim: ‘The time has come when blessed or God-filled are those who have
become beggars in the spirit!’ That means, those who can no longer rise into
ecstatic dreamy clairvoyant conditions, but who are obliged to seek the King-
dom of Heaven within, from out of their ego.

Formerly, when man was placed amidst the sorrows and sufferings of earth,
he only had to call forth within him the state in which he could be transported
into the Divine-Spiritual worlds. He was not obliged to endure suffering, for
when it came to him, he could at once seek the state in which he was filled with
the spirit, God-filled, and in that state—severed from his ego—he could find
balm for the sorrows and sufferings of earth. Christ Jesus had to proclaim that
this time too was now past and over. Those would now be blessed, or God-
filled, who, while they could no longer look outside for help for their sufferings,
might through the strengthening of their own ego seek within themselves the
power to find the Paraclete in their inner being. ‘ Blessed (God-filled) are they
who do not banish sorrow by ecstatically raising themselves to the Divinity, but
who endure it, developing the power of the ego whereby they can find within
themselves the Paraclete, known later as the Holy Ghost who reveals himself
through the Ego.’ Even Buddha in his time did not recommend that sorrow

should be endured, but that it should be thrown off, with all the thirst of earth.
Even six hundred years before Christ Jesus, Buddha described sorrow and
suffering on earth as the worst consequences of the longing for existence. Six
hundred years later, in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ in the second Beatitude
proclaimed that sorrow must not be done away with in that way, but must be
endured, that it was a trial through which the Ego might develop the strength
it can find within itself: the inner support of the Paraclete. This is literally
contained in the second sentence of the Sermon on the Mount, even to the ex-
pression: Paraclete. It is only necessary to read these things in the right way.
That is precisely the task of our age ; we must learn, through what is given to us
in Spiritual Science, to read the great scriptures of old aright, through the
teachings of Spiritual Science.

A third point is this. In olden times, when men could permeate them-
selves with what came to them in ecstasy and which the Greeks called ° Pneuma’
or Spirit, they were then guided instinctively in their course. All their impulses,
actions, emotions and desires—in fact, all that dwells in the astral body of man
—was instinctively guided, when man was able to raise himself to the good
Spiritual beings. He had not yet tried from his own ego to control and purify his
inner passions and desires and to bring them into balance. Now, however, the
time had come—and Christ was to proclaim this—when men having tamed,
purified and balanced the passions, desires and impulses of this astral body—
would of themselves reach the goal for the humanity of to-day, to which we give
expression by pointing to the great progress of evolution. This has often been
presented to us in the following way. Man began his existence on ancient
Saturn; he continued it through the Sun and Moon-existence, until on the
earth the ego was added to him. Only when he becomes conscious of this ego,
when he tames and balances what was added to him by the astral body on the
Moon, can he really attain to the goal of the earth-mission. Those who are
able to control and balance the desires in their astral body can be blessed (God-
filled), for by this means they will, through themselves, discover the Earth.
Thus the third sentence of the Sermon on the Mount, which as usually trans-
lated contains a meaningless word, tells us the following : Those who * balance ’
their passions desires and emotions (not make them ‘ meek’) to them shall be
given—or they shall ‘ inherit ’"—the earth.

Thus the three first sentences of the Sermon on the Mount in their world-
wide significance, place before us the following summary.

The first sentence of the Sermon on the Mount refers to the physical body,
and informs us that it was formerly possible, in the olden times of humanity
through a particular training of the physical body to perceive the Spiritual
in clairvoyant dreamy conditions, but the physical body has now become poor
as regards the inner possession of the spirit.

As regards the etheric body, through which man becomes conscious of
suffering—although he is first aware of it in the astral body—the indication is
given that men must learn to develop in themselves a force which will enable
them to find help for the suffering which is given them as a trial.

Thirdly, we come on to the astral body, concerning which we are told, that
through the taming and purifying of his impulses and passions man will find

in his inner being the strength which will enable him to become a real ego, one
to whom the earth mission is then allotted as his portion.

When we now ascend to the Ego, we know that this works in the sentient
soul, intellectual soul and spiritual soul. The ego works in the sentient soul,
that is: it spiritualises it. This enables man to feel the outpouring of human
brotherly love—which becomes universal through the spreading of Christianity
-—as righteousness: ‘hunger and thirst after the all-ruling righteousness ’.
The sentient soul otherwise feels only in the physical body; it must now,
through Christianity, learn to feel for spiritual things: to hunger and thirst
after righteousness. Those who are able to find their human centre in the ego,
will, as a result of their work on themselves, satisfy the longing in their sentient
soul for an all-ruling earthly righteousness. ‘ Blessed are they who, through the
Christ-Impulse, learn to hunger and thirst after righteousness ; for they will
find a strong force in their inner being whereby, because they are working for
the righteousness of the world, they shall find within themselves the satisfac-
tion of this quality.’

We now come to the intellectual soul. We have often emphasised the fact
that whereas in the sentient soul the ego is as yet but dimly brooding, in the
intellectual soul it begins to shine forth, later to attain full consciousness in the
spiritual soul where it first becomes a pure ego. In the intellectual soul some-
thing very singular happens: the human ego—i.e., that wherein we each
resemble all other men, for each of us bears the ego within him—shines forth. No
matter in what part of the world we meet with our fellow-man, through the
fact that an ego shines out of his intellectual soul he is a human being like our-
selves. Something shines forth from our intellectual soul, and if we receive it
as well as we can and carry it out into the world, we can enter into the right
relation with our fellow-men. In our intellectual soul we are to develop some-
thing which we must pour forth into our surroundings and which must flow
back to us again. That is why this is the only occasion in the Sermon on the
Mount when the subject of the Beatitude is like the predicate, ‘ Blessed (or God-
filled) are they who develop love ; for as they radiate forth love, it will return
to them again.’ This shows the infinite depths of such a spiritual document, for
it can be understood by the very way in which the sentences are constructed, it
can be understood even down to the smallest details, if gradually, year after
year, one collects all that Spiritual Science can give for the understanding of
man. The difference between the fifth Beatitude and the others, in all of
which the subject and the predicate are different, cannot in the least be under-
stood without knowing that the fifth Beatitude points directly to the intel-
lectual soul, or Mind-soul. We will now ascend to the work of the ego on
the Spiritual or Consciousness soul. Here at last the ego is pure and unalloyed ;
only here can it become conscious of itself. This is beautifully expressed in the
Sermon on the Mount, in the verse which expresses that only in the ego can the
divine substance in man come to life. ‘ Blessed are they, who are pure in blood
or in heart (which is the expression of the ego),who allow nothing to enter there
but the pure ego-nature ; for they will recognise God therein, they will perceive
God !’

The Sermon on the Mount now rises to that which refers to the Spirit-Self,

Life-Spirit, and Spirit-Man. Here man can no longer work through himself
alone; at this stage of his evolution he must appeal to the divine Spiritual
worlds, which, through Christ, have been brought into connection with the
earth; he must look up to the renewed divine spiritual worlds. Whereas in
former times strife and disharmony entered humanity through the ego-nature—
as indeed it still does to-day—peace will be poured out over the earth through
the Christ-Impulse. And those who take up the Christ-Impulse will become the
founders of peace in that part of human nature which in the future will gradually
develop as Spirit-Self ; they will thus in a new sense become the sons of God,
in that they will bring down the spirit from the Spiritual Realms—‘ Blessed are
they who bring peace—or harmony into the world ; for they shall thereby be the
sons of God!’ Thus must they be called, who are really filled inwardly with a
spirit self which is to bring peace and harmony on the earth.

Now, we must clearly understand, that of all that develops on the earth,
some part survives into later ages. This, in a certain respect, is hostile to what
implants itself as a germ in later ages. What the Christ-Impulse brings, enters
into the whole evolution of humanity—it does not, however, enter all at once,
but rather in such a way that something still remains from the earlier stages
of evolution. It is therefore necessary that those who first understand this
Christ-Impulse should stand firm on the basis thereof, quite permeated inwardly
with its force. If they are inwardly permeated by the force that proceeds from
the seed that has come from the Christ and stand firm on that foundation, they
will then be blessed in a new sense ; in this they develop the force of firmness.
‘ Blessed are they who stand under the new order, who stand under Christ and
who suffer persecution from that which remains over from the old order!’ And
the last of the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount points straight to the
Christ-Impulse itself, for He says to the Apostles: Blessed are ye, who are
especially called to carry the Name of Christ out into the world ! ’

Thus we see how the Sermon on the Mount directs Christianity from out of
the great teachings of cosmology and humanity, while everywhere directing
attention to the force within, the centre point of which must be found in the
Ego itself. The time has now come when this must be understood, and under-
stood in such a way that people must not believe themselves to be true Chris-
tians because they try to find Christianity in some dogmatic collateral significa-
tion or side issue, but rather those are true Christians who understand the
meaning of the text: ‘ Change the disposition of your souls, for the kingdoms
of heaven have descended even into the ego!’ Those persons can be called
‘ Christians ’ in the true sense who realise that this is the essential point, and
who further understand that this had to be put at the beginning of our era ina
different way from that in which it must be given out now! It would be a mis-
taken idea of Christianity to believe that what was considered Christian in the
words spoken two thousand years ago has not since then undergone further
development. Christianity would stand for nothing but a dead stream of
culture. But it is a living one! It is developing, and will continue to de-
velop! Just as it is true that Christianity had to start from the time when
man had descended right down to the physical plane, when a Divine Being
became man in a physical human body, so it is also true that at our present time

man must learn to rouse himself to the understanding of Christianity and of
the Christ Being Itself, from a Higher Spiritual Standpoint !—What does this
mean ?

Just as it is true that the old dreamy clairvoyant forces had been lost, so
that at the time of Christ those persons who were filled ‘ with God’ in the old
sense could no longer be described as ° blessed,’ but only such as formed the
kingdoms of Heaven within them, it is also true that the ego of man will re-
ascend into the Spiritual world in full consciousness and will develop ever new
forces and capacities. Just as it is true that the time of the Baptist was the
time when those capacities which led down to the physical plane had reached a
crisis in humanity, it is also true that we have now again reached an important
time. What is called the ‘ Dark Age,’ which began in the year 3101 B.c. and
reached its height at the time of the Incarnation, came to an end at the close of
the 19th Century. The Kali-Yuga was concluded in 1899! We are now ap-
proaching a time when new forces and capacities will be developed by man and
these will be distinctly apparent in the last half of our present century. These
new forces and capacities must be understood. Particularly those persons who
have studied and understood Anthrosophy must realise that such an uplifting of
humanity towards the Spiritual has again become possible. For during the
important times that will follow after 1930, single individuals will find it possible
to develop higher forces in their nature, whereby what we know as the etheric
body will become visible. A certain number of people will develop etheric
clairvoyant powers.

One of two things will then be possible, either the materialism of our age
will continue, in which case when these forces are manifested men will fail to
understand that they lead into the Spiritual worlds ; they will then be wrongly
understood and so be crushed. Should that occur, would not people, speaking
in a materialistic sense at the end of the year 1940, be justified in saying: “Now
see what fantastic prophets those were who spoke at the beginning of the 20th
century! Nothing of what they foretold has been fulfilled.’ But if the new
capacities have not appeared, that would not contradict what may be said now,
and must indeed be said; it would only prove that people without the right
understanding have choked them in the bud and that they have missed some-
thing which humanity must possess if its further evolution is not to collapse into
dissolution and decay. That is the great responsibility of Anthroposophy.
Anthroposophy has sprung from a knowledge of the necessity for an advanced.
preparation for something which will come, but which might be overlooked and
suppressed. Anthroposophy has the task of bringing about an understanding
of the Spiritual forces developing in man. If these forces are suppressed hu-
manity will sink deeper into the mire of materialism.

On the other hand, Anthroposophy may be successful in spreading through
its teachings an understanding of the fact that man must rise into the Spiritual
worlds; it may succeed in lifting mankind out of the materialistic frame of
mind. For this, however, something must now come forth from the anthro-
posophical movement, something that was prepared centuries ago, but
which must now, in our own age, evolve toa particular and important turning-
point.

47 .

The centuries that lie behind us were fitted for cultivating to an increasing
extent the materialistic ideas of man. Under this materialistic influence it was
easy to believe that the Christ-Impulse and the Christ-Being would come into
touch with the world by incarnating once again—or perhaps oftener—in a
physical, material body. Instead of acquiring clear notions of the fact that men
must grow up as regards their capacities so that a great number, and finally all,
might experience the Event of Damascus—that is : might experience the Christ
in the atmosphere around the earth, and see Him in His etheric body—it was
believed that Christ would descend again in a physical body, for the material-
istic satisfaction of those who refuse to believe in the spirit, and who will not
believe what St. Paul saw in the Event of Damascus: that Christ is in the Earth-
atmosphere and that He is always there! ‘I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world!’ Those who develop the methods of clairvoyant vision
into the Spiritual world will find what could not be found there in the pre-
Christian time: the Christ in His etheric body. That is the important pro-
gress in the evolution of humanity ; before the first half of our century has
elapsed, those faculties by méans of which the event of Damascus becomes a
personal experience, will develop naturally as it were, and men will see the
Christ in His etheric body. He will not descend into flesh, but man will ascend
when he has acquired understanding of the spirit.

That is the manner of Christ’s return in our own age, for in this 20th century
men must work their way up out of the Kali-Yuga into a century of clairvoy-
ance. They must ascend to Christ by means of the capacities which they will
develop ; they must ascend to the Christ where He is and where He can be seen,
at first sight, by those in the vanguard, those who through the teachings of
Anthroposophy can be guided to what in the course of the next 2,500 years will
be experienced to a greater or less degree by every human soul.

The great event which awaits mankind in the near future is, that those who
raise themselves—with full Ego-consciousness—to the etheric vision of Christ in
His etheric body, will be ‘ God-filled’ or blessed. For this, however, the
materialistic mind must be thoroughly overcome, and men must acquire under-
standing of Spiritual doctrine and Spiritual life.

In bygone centuries it was, comparatively speaking, not harmful for men
continually to return to the materialistic conception of the so-called return of
Christ. Particularly at the small times of transition, when that which has now
reached its climax in a materialistic sense was being prepared for, as, for instance,
in France in 1137, when a Messiah was expected, and was awaited by many in
wide circles. A Messiah did actually appear then, but he led the people astray,
because the belief in him had arisen through their materialistic ideas, for it was
believed the Messiah would come in the flesh. Thirty years before, another
Messiah appeared.in Spain; there, too, it had been foretold that a Messiah
would come in the flesh. At about the same time another new Messiah appeared
in North Africa ; there, too, it had been prophesied that one would come from
the East, and appear in the flesh. Throughout the whole time during which
the materialistic mind was being prepared, in that the highest things were being
grasped by it, there appeared such prophets whose coming was foretold. Such
phenomena are well known to those who understand the times, and they con-

tinued into the 17th century, when the approaching appearance of a sort of
Christ, a Messiah, was proclaimed far and wide. This again found acceptance
by the materialistically religious minds of men. Based on these prophecies, a
false Messiah was thus able to arise in Smyrna, in 1667, bearing the name of
Shabbathoi Zewi. He wrote letters and epistles at that time from Smyrna,
which, although they contained nothing but false matter, being written in a
materialistic sense, shook the world as greatly as had once the Epistles of St.
Paul. In the 17th century there went forth from Smyrna the proclamation
that in that city there dwelt a Messiah in the flesh! And Shabbathoi Zewi, the
‘just man of God ’ was so considered, that it was said the whole world-reckoning
would now take on another form. ‘He will pass through the world with his
faithful disciples and all must believe in him who are willing to see the truth,
who wish to see Christ in the flesh!’ It was preached to the people that his
birthday must be held as the greatest Festival on Earth! Whole hosts of
people undertook pilgrimages there—not only from Asia and Africa, but also
from Poland, Russia, Spain, France, and so on; great numbers of persons
travelled as pilgrims to Smyrna to see Shabbathoi Zewi, who was supposed to
be Christ in the flesh, until the thing grew beyond all limits and he was arrested
by order of the Sultan! This, said the people, was but the fulfilment of the
prophesy, for it was foretold he would be in prison for nine months ! The
Sultan could think of no other method than to have him brought forth and
stripped, saying: ‘ We will see whether thou be a Messiah, a Christ ; I shall have
thee shot!’ And so it was finally proved that Shabbathoi Zewi was only an
ordinary Ba Rabbi after all !

Such impersonations are the result of the materialistic thinking of our
times, and there will be more of the kind, for the materialistic mind will make
use of men.

What I am now saying will often and often be said during the next few
decades : that the capacities of man will develop up to seeing the Etheric vision of
Christ, in the reality of which they can then believe, just as firmly as did St. Paul
himself! This is the immediate future of man, and this it is for which Spiritual
Science must prepare him. But on account of the materialistic thoughts of
men the time will also come when strong temptations will arise ; false Messiahs
will appear in the flesh. It will then be proved whether Anthroposophists have
rightly understood Anthroposophy. ‘Those who have not will be so adversely
affected by the materialistic mind that they will succumb to the temptation.
Although they believe in Christ they will believe in an incarnated Christ. But
those who have gained understanding of true Spiritual life will realise that the
‘second Coming of Christ ’ in our century, that greatest of Events, signifies that
He comes to man in the Spirit, because mankind in the course of its development
will have developed up to the Spiritual, will have evolved up towards Christ !
Therefore in our century, the Sermon on the Mount undergoes a complete
modification. It must be entirely re-modelled, so to speak. Those persons
will be God-filled (or blessed) who, through having been beggars for the
spirit in their past incarnations, have now advanced so far as to be able to
ascend to that part of the kingdom of Heaven where Christ will appear before
their spiritual sight !

Every single sentence of the Sermon on the Mount in its present form might
be reconstructed in this sense. Christianity will only re-conquer its ancient
documents when they are grasped in a living sense, when it is realised that they
are living, not dead writings. When the time comes—and that time is here
now—when materialistical research extends to the Gospel and takes away the
tradition of Christ, then, as we have often stated, Spiritual research will give
back the Gospels to mankind! This coincidence will not be accidental, it will
come of necessity. It may be that in our own time—during which the materi-
alistic mind having gone as far as it can, will reach a crisis—certain unfortunate
persons having, through their mistaken philosophy been led into curious ideas,
may conclude that effects may be produced without causes, and that there never
was an historical Jesus-Christ. This should be comprehensible to Anthropo-
sophists. They ought, indeed, to feel a certain pity for those poor men who,
notwithstanding their philosophy, are so entangled in materialistic thought that
they have altogether lost the faculty of imagining the existence of spirit, and
who, consequently, keep flying in the face of the saying, that there is no effect
without a cause. Christianity as an effect could not have existed without a
cause! Anthroposophy, speaking from spiritual investigation, will tell men of
Christ in the form in which He now lives, if they will but listen with an under-
standing mind. The understanding must be sufficiently matured to recognise
definitely that the Christ will reappear, but as a reality higher than a physical
one, a reality to which one can only look up, after first having acquired a sense
and an understanding for spiritual life.

Inscribe in your hearts that Anthroposophy must be a preparation for the
great epoch of humanity which is immediately ahead of us. Do not in this
look upon it as matter of the first importance whether the souls now incarnated
are still incarnated in physical bodies when Christ appears in the manner de-
scribed, or whether they will then have already passed through the Portal and
stand in the life between death and rebirth. For that which takes place in the
20th century is not of importance to the physical world alone, but to all the
worlds with which man is connected. Just as those persons who will be in
incarnation between 1930 and 1950 will experience the vision of the Etheric
Christ, so a mighty revolution will also take place in the world in which man lives
between death and rebirth. Just as Christ after the Mystery of Golgotha de-
scended into the underworld, so will the effects of the Event which will occur
for the inhabitants of the physical plane, rise into the spiritual plane. Those
people who have not been prepared for this by Spiritual Science will miss the
great and mighty Event, which will also take place in the Spiritual worlds in
which man then lives. Those persons will have to wait for a new incarnation
to experience on earth what makes them capable of receiving the new Christ-
Impulse. For it is on earth that we must acquire the capacity of grasping all
the Christ-Impulses, no matter how high they may lead us! Not in vain has
man been placed in the physical world ; for it is here we must acquire that which
leads us to an understanding of the Christ-Impulse! For all the souls now
living, Anthroposophy is the preparation for the Christ-Event that awaits us
in the near future. This preparation is necessary. Other events will follow
this Christ Event in the course of the development of mankind. It will there-

fore be a great omission, if those who have the opportunity of raising themselves
during this century to the Christ-Event, do not take advantage of it.

Only if we look upon Anthroposophy in this way and inscribe it in our souls,
can we realise what it means to each human soul and what it ought to become
to all humanity.

LECTURE 5.

CORRESPONDENCES BETWEEN THE MICROCOSM AND THE

MACROCOSM.
Berlin, 9th March, 1910.

Our lecture to-day will consist of a kind of summing up of all we have heard
in the course of the various lectures given here this winter, which may be taken
as a continuation of the lectures on St. Luke’s and St. Matthew’s Gospels and
of what was given here with reference to the lectures on St. John’s Gospel which
I gave in Stockholm. From the way in which these lectures were given, it
will be clear that there never was any question in a narrow sense of explaining
the Gospels, but rather that from the truths which in the first place are truths
in themselves and as such can be found in the Gospels if rightly understood, light
can be thrown in different ways upon other riddles of life.

When we go back beyond the founding of Christianity, we find two different
kinds of Initiation : that of the North, described in more detail in the above-
mentioned Stockholm Lectures, and that of the South, the chief characteristic
of which is its connection with the Egyptian methods of Initiation. In the
world of the ancients there were two different methods by which they could
penetrate into the Spiritual world. In old Egypt a candidate for initiation had
to descend into the depths of his own soul, beyond all that plays its part in
the ordinary soul-life, as thinking, feeling and willing, and the like. There he
found that from which the soul itself came forth : the divine Spiritual life of
the world. A descent beneath those regions of the soul which are illuminated
and permeated by the Ego, was the essential point in the Egyptian, or indeed,
in any southern Initiation. In the Northern Initiation, on the other hand,
the object striven for was that man should come out of himself, and expand into
the phenomena of the world in a state of ecstasy. This was especially the case
in the Germanic Druidic Mysteries and those of the Trotten. We heard how
these two kinds of Initiation were combined in one stream, in what we call the
Christian Initiation, and how this represented a higher unity combining the
ecstatic Initiation of the North with the mystical contraction of the South.
This gives an indication of a deeper foundation of cosmic Mysteries, permeating
all existence. In reality this is in itself as great and mighty a fact as the fusion
of the two different forms of Initiation of ancient times into the one single form
of Christian Initiation ; it is an example of a great and still more comprehensive
law permeating all human existence, and also interwoven in the existence of all
the outer world-phenomena, in so far as these are known to man. Everywhere
we find ourselves confronted by opposites, by two parts of a duality. The
Northern and Southern initiations offer one example of two opposite sides—

polarities, as we might call them—that confront us in the life of the world. The
other, the Christian initiation—in which these two forms of initiation flow
together and as it were celebrate a Spiritual marriage—is an example of how
opposites, dualities of any sort, reunite. This takes place without cessation ;
unities are always separating into dualities for the purpose of furthering evolu-
tion, while dualities unite again, and once more form unities. We can point
externally to one great and mighty fact, extending beyond human evolution,
which is an example of this division of unity into a duality, and of the streaming
back of the two into one.

We have often thrown light on the Lemurian Epoch, which experienced,
among other things, that great fact in the evolution of the world, the separation
of the Moon from our Earth. That epoch also saw the first beginnings of that
which in the present day sense of man’s development, we may call the two
opposites: man and woman; whereas in the ages preceding that of Lemuria
we should only find unity of sex. There was an original unity, which separated
into man and woman. We have already indicated, moreover, that in a future
age the two sexes will once more become one, that the duality will again become
a unity, a unity will come forth from a duality. That is the external indication
of a far-reaching series of facts connected with the relation of two to one, or
one to two.

What we thus meet with in the development of mankind is actually the
expression, the image, of a still greater cosmic polarity rooted in a unity ;
greater than the example in our present-world life, of the two that in a distant
future will be fused into one. It is necessary that we should take every one of
the thoughts given us by Spiritual Science in its full depths, not allowing our-
selves to form a habit of taking such thoughts in the same superficial way as
other thoughts and conceptions which prevail in the world to-day, and which
our present civilisation in its hasty and superficial triviality accepts. The
thoughts of Spiritual Science must be taken as earnestly as possible. Therefore
sucha thought as that often spoken of andwhichindeed underlies all our teaching
—+that man asa little world, as a microcosm, is born out of the Macrocosm, the
great world—must not simply be taken as an abstract thought, for in its content
it is manifold and infinite. Above all, we must realise that the world contains
more depth than is supposed ; and that even when we have grasped a polarity
or a truth in one of its aspects, that does not by any means signify that we know
the last truth about it ; rather must we patiently wait and observe, so that when
we know one side of a thing, we should try to learn what refers to the other side
of it.

Man is born out of the whole Cosmos ; he must look up it to as to his Father-
Mother, of whom he himself is an image. Yes, man is an image of the whole
world with which he is acquainted, there is nothing in the being of man which
does not in some way relate to what can be found in the great Cosmos. If we
compare man, as seen to-day in the light of Spiritual Science, with the human
forms of early ages, we find among others one characteristic feature of immense
importance for the understanding of the nature of man. This sign can teach
every one of us that, as regards what we have known about the world, the fact
that some things that have been said are true, is not of sole importance ; there

is something else besides, something very different. When a man has proved
the truth of a thing, he has not even then told us what is of greatest importance
in it. For example, there is much truth in what a trivial natural scientist will
tell about the resemblance between man and the higher mammals. It is an
indisputable truth that man has the same number of bones and muscles, and
so on. But after this has been proved, the last word on the subject has not
been said. Man must learn, through the deepening and inwardness of Spiritual
Science, to acquire a feeling for the value of a particular truth, to sense whether
or no it is important and essential for the elucidation of a matter. People come
along to-day and speaking from their trivial consciousness, keep on assuring us
of the truth of their assertions. We have no wish to contradict them. But the
point is, of what value are they for the understanding of the world ? Now there
is a certain fact—which is undeniably true, and with which everyone is ac-
quainted, because we meet with it over and over again every day—the value of
which, in its significance to man should be realised and felt in the right way.
That is, the fact that man stands and walks upright and can gaze out into space
around him. Man alone is capable of that ! For we must say that even though
the apes look as though they might possess this power, they have somehow
missed it, for they cannot walk upright. Man is the only being who has achieved
this, and who has succeeded in raising his countenance freely into the space
around him. This fact is immeasurably more important than all those that a
trivial Natural Science tells us as to the position occupied by man among the
animals. What science says is true, but this is of much greater importance.
If we wish to feel the force of this, we must make ourselves acquainted with the
reason why man is a being that walks upright, a being certainly still bound to
the earth, but one who, through his mental outlook and even through his sense-
perceptions, raised himself into an upright position in space. ‘The reason is
that there is a certain polarity, a duality in the Cosmos, which corresponds to
another duality in man. We can point to a duality in the universe and to a
duality in man, as two opposites, existing in the microcosm and the macrocosm.
The one alluded to in the macrocosm, in the great world, is that of the Sun to
the Earth; and the same polarity that exists between Sun and Earth exists
also in man. It is that between his head and his hands and feet ; between his
head and his limbs. As time goes on these things will be gone into more fully,
but we must in the first place make ourselves acquainted with them and learn
to feel that in a certain respect the head and limbs of man bear the same relation
to each other as the Sun does to the Earth in our solar System. ‘There are, in
fact, in our earth those forces which in the course of the ages have brought about
the whole form and movement of our hands and feet through certain mysterious
forces which bind man to the Earth; while the forces which have lifted his
countenance up in space, and which have transformed him from a being which
gazes on to the earth to one who can look out into the infinite distances of
cosmic space,—these forces have their seat in the Sun. Anyone who really has
the right feeling will have the same impression when contemplating the self-
evident polarity between man’s head and his limbs, as he will if he turns his
attention to the polarity between the Sun and Earth. This polarity will some
day become a unity in the life of man, just as the Cosmic polarity will do.

Even as the Sun and Earth were once a single being which later divided into a
duality, so will they some day be re-united ; and the polarity in man between
head and limbs will also some day become unity, difficult to imagine as it may
seem to the man of to-day, who is not accustomed to such concepts.

We have thus pointed to a polarity in man and to its correspondence in the
universe. There are, however, other polarities in man, which also have their
corresponding counterparts in the universe. As regards the polarity between
the head and limbs, all human beings on the earth are alike. It exists equally
in man and woman. In this respect there is no difference between them ; for
every other polarity, for example that in the configuration of the soul, is not
affected by this. If there were no other polarity but that existing between the
microcosm and macrocosm, man and woman would be alike, but as it is they
form another polarity in the being of man. Now we may ask: can we not also
find a polarity in the universe corresponding to that between man and woman
in human life? That can be found too. But before we are able to look for it
we must make ourselves to some slight extent acquainted, in an occult sense,
with the polarity between man and woman. In so doing we must not fall into
the error of our materialistic age, which applies the polarity between man and
woman—taking it simply as a question of sex—to the whole universe. Not only
is that a trivial thing to do, but our learned men are taking a liberty when they
consider that what is found in one domain is applicable to every other.

The corresponding polarity in the universe to that existing on our earth
between man and woman cannot be called male and female. That would be
nonsense. We must investigate the occult foundations of this other polarity.
The polarity between male and female in our earthly evolution does not, of
course, apply to the ‘ human being.’ The human being as such is the same in
both man and woman. When we speak of man and woman we only refer to
the configuration of their physical and etheric bodies. This has nothing to do
with the inner being of man ; so that we cannot, in an occult sense, speak as our
materialistic age does. A man and woman each possesses an astral body and an
ego, but the ordinary perception knows nothing of that which makes a man or
woman a human being, it can only speak of them as it sees them. We are not
now speaking of the human being as such in man or woman, but of what con-
stitutes a man or a woman, which is merely their outer sheaths. This must be
thoroughly understood ; for if what is about to be said were to be applied to
the human being as such, it would be completely wrong. The polarity between
man and woman within the above-named limits is as follows :—

In primeval ages the external human form was totally different. The
present human forms—male and female—have gradually evolved out of an
earlier single form, which had not yet divided into two. There was formerly a
unity, where now there is a polarity, between man and woman. Now we know
too, that the earlier uni-form was of a finer, more spiritual kind. Only in the
course of ages did man develop a dense material form. When we look back not
only do we find uni-form, but one which was more spiritual than the human form
to-day. We have a primeval human being neither man nor woman, unity as
yet undivided, and finer, more etheric, more spiritual than the later and more
material human being, now separated into man and woman. What was the

cause of the original unity having later developed into Man and Woman ?
This cause came about because, when the unity became a duality, the woman
formed a physical body for herself which, if we may say such a thing, did not
completely pass from the earlier form into the normal material form. The
body of woman remained at a more spiritual stage, it did not fully descend into
the material. It has certainly become dense and material, but at the same time
it has retained an earlier, more spiritual form. Thus a spiritual stage has be- |
come material. The body of woman has, as it were, retained an earlier, more
spiritual form, which has not descended completely into matter. Though it
has become material, it has not done so as regards its form, for it still retains
the form the human being originally possessed. Hence we may say : Woman
is a manifestation of an earlier formation which was intended to be Spiritual
and which, as seen to-day, is actually false, a maya, an illusion. If we accept
the idea of a certain point in evolution when a spring-forward was made and
when matter was crystallised, we can say: the woman did not press forward as
far as that point, she crystallised an earlier form. To one who can really per-
ceive the facts of life, or who learns them through imaginative cognition, a
woman’s body is a somewhat truer imprint of the Spiritual behind it only as far
as the head and limbs are concerned, that is to say, that her head and limbs alone
express in their material appearance, something of a resemblance to their
spiritual counterpart. The Spiritual behind the material form does not look
like that, because the latter is not a true form.

Thus the saying that the world is ‘ Maya’ can be applied to every region of
life. It is very easy simply to state that ‘ the world is Maya,’ but a man cannot
grasp its meaning, if he does not go seriously into it, inquiring : ‘ In how far are
forms illusion’ 2? Some are more so and others less. There are those which at
any rate approximately do in their outer semblance express the Spiritual behind
them ; these are the head and limbs. Others there are which are completely
wrong and out of drawing ; to these belong the rest of the human body, which is
quite out of drawing. When the world understands these things it will no
longer speak as foolishly as it does to-day, for it will then see that a certain deep,
yet more delicate artistic sense tells us that the female form, with the exception
of the head and limbs, is out of drawing, and if it is to be artistically represented
the defects must be corrected. In better and more artistic times this was
actually done, for no one who really has an eye for form can fail to observe that
in the Venus of Milo the form has to a certain extent been corrected ; but this
as a rule is not noticed.

In this way we have divided the human being into two parts, consisting of
those members of the body which are less of an illusion and those others that
are more so and quite out of drawing. This does not apply to woman alone ;
but where a man is concerned the whole thing is reversed. He is the opposite
pole. Just as the female form did not descend so far as the normal point neces-
sary for rightly expressing the spirit in matter but crystallised at an earlier
stage, so the male body on the other hand sprang just as far beyond that normal
point as the female form stopped short of it. Thus the male body descended
more deeply than the normal into materiality, and manifests this in its outer
form. It would have quite a different appearance if it had not sprung beyond

the middle point. Only as regards the head and limbs does the human body
even approximately correspond to truth. As regards the rest of its form we
must say that the female body, having reached a certain point, remained at a
standstill ; it consolidated before the waves of material existence broke over it ;
hence it manifests quite a different form from that which we should have seen if
it had but waited till it had come in contact with material life before crystal-
lising. The male body on the other hand plunged too deeply down and is just
as greatly out-of-drawing as that of woman. Thus the woman’s body manifests
a distorted form in the Spiritual, while the man’s body is distorted in the
material. The true form would be between the two; it would consist of a
happy average of both. Of course this affects the whole human being in his
earth-life, in so far as he has a physical covering. What I have just said has
nothing to do with the polarity between the head and limbs, it refers to the
whole human being in one incarnation between birth and death. We incarnate
either as man or woman. In so doing we have to take into account that which
is out-of-drawing in the man or woman ; but that extends to the whole human
being, and the consequence is that if in one incarnation one has the body of a
woman, the whole of this female body is influenced by the fact of its having re-
mained behind at an earlier stage when the form was more pliable. In a male
incarnation the whole physical body is permeated with the effects of having
plunged down too strongly into coarse solid matter. If people had even the
smallest inkling of what it means to think in the spirit, to live in the spirit, using
the physical body only as an instrument,—so that one does not feel firmly
fastened into it, identifying oneself with it—they would sing psalms about the
misery of having to use a male body in an incarnation, for of course these material
effects have also’ filtered into the brain. One observes that the forms of the
male brain, through having been deeper into matter, are more difficult to
manage than the more flexible forms of the female brain. It is truly a more
difficult matter to train a male brain for the ascent into the higher worlds, and
to translate the truths into thoughts, than it is to train a female brain for the
same purpose. For this reason it is not s
…[truncated]

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Multiple overlapping crises from the COVID-19 pandemic to violent conflicts to an accelerating climate emergency have combined to create a perfect storm with just 15% of the SDG targets currently on track. That incl…

Epstein Files

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EFTA01129103 — 38 Steps towards
a manual of peace: 38 Steps towards Enlightened Living EFTA01129103 A Dhammakaya Foundation Paperback First Edition 2005 Published by the Dhammakaya Foundation Department of International Relations 23/2 Moo 7., Khlong Sa…

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Destroyed Soul Landscapes
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The Legacy of Barbara Marx Hubbard and the Conscious Evolution of Psychological Operations
After 3 years of sleuthing, John Klyczek has completed the final installment in his investigative series on the legacy of Barbara Marx Hubbard. In this article, Klyczek reveals how Hubbard’s Malthusian gospel of consciou…