The
Dedication of an
Anthroposophical Group.
Lecture
by Rudolf Steiner.
Breslau, 25th of
June, 1909.
When words are to be
spoken at the dedication of an Anthroposophical Group, it is of
greater importance to make clear the object and the aim of spiritual
scientific work than to give important revelations concerning
mysteries of the higher worlds. If we wish to visualize the
significance of the spiritual scientific world-conception for the
human soul, we must cast our eye over many different realms.
Picture to yourselves a
person living in the 13th or 14th century! Such a person lived at a
time when the art of printing had not yet been invented an
art by means of which such a powerful influence has been exercised
upon the human soul in modern times. Picture to yourselves a person
living at that time and ask yourselves what took place within his
soul when for instance he looked up at the sky. This person whose way
of viewing the world was not yet influenced by accumulated knowledge
and materialistic learning as is the case with those living to-day,
saw space resplendent with the brilliant light of the sun in the
day-time, and at night agleam with shimmering stars, and at such a
time his soul felt cosmic space to be pervaded by spiritual forces
and spiritual beings. He felt them. Through the culture of those
times, images of divine-spiritual facts arose within him, and he felt
them directly. And so it was also in the spring-time when he saw the
plants springing up out of the earth; his soul felt Nature to be
illumined and imbued by the forces of divine, spiritual beings.
Such a feeling, such
direct experience of the living spiritual forces diminishes the more
we approach our present time. This statement is not meant as an
adverse criticism of our time, for the diminishing of this feeling
has been accompanied by the rise of another way of approaching
Nature, by a more intellectual, external way of regarding the world;
and it is only right that hereby mankind has gradually gained control
ever the forces of Nature, has learned to investigate the world in
detail with the aid of the microscope and to follow the stars in
their courses through space with the telescope. It is right that in a
certain sense men are proud that they are able to increase their
mastery of the forces of Nature more and more, but at the same time
we must make clear to ourselves that hereby all human impulses have
become different.
When a human being
looked up to the stars in former times, he said to himself, I
feel something divine and spiritual in the stars. To-day,
however, he only sees them as physical objects, and it is difficult
for any one living in our day to picture to himself the divine and
the spiritual. Humanity has really lost its understanding of this
divine-spiritual vision. In spite of this fact it is true that even
to-day there are many souls which are wonderfully stirred by their
understanding of that which is divine and spiritual. Oh, the
soul thirsts to imagine how space is filled with divine spiritual
beings, filled with a spiritual power, and it feels the need of
learning to know this power. Now the materialistic development here
described has come to such a pass that just the most earnest and most
ardent seekers after truth have gradually begun to think of late that
it can be only a childish point of view to feel something divine in
the world, and that mankind has now matured far enough to do away
with such antiquated ideas. Even our school-children have to
experience a discord which leads to the profoundest consequences in
life. On the one hand the child is given lessons in natural science
in a purely materialistic way, on the other, lessons in religion.
Between them there is no bridge, no connecting link. What is the
result in later life? We can say that the whole of humanity is
divided into two camps, according to the consequences arising from
this discord. On one hand there are those who have become indifferent
and no longer care about anything, and on the other hand those who
take things tragically, who brood, but still do not gain clear
insight, and at last despair of solving the riddles of life.
Thinking humanity is really divided into these two camps.
Perhaps it is, in the end, only the simple souls who have kept a
certain feeling for the spiritual. He who does not regard everything
from the outside only, knows that just in the middle of the 19th
century the danger that humanity would sink completely into
materialistic life was at its greatest. The whole disposition and
frame of mind of man tended towards materialistic feeling and
experience. Therein lay a dreadful danger for humanity. Do you know
what would have happened if spiritual science had not intervened?
Man's manner of thinking would have become submerged ever deeper in
the materialistic element; the forms of thought would have become
gradually harder and more rigid; their outlines would have become
ever sharper and more unalterable, instead of adapting themselves in
constant active flow. No one would have been able to feel for anyone
else, or sympathise with anyone else; but everyone would have felt
that he alone was in the right and would have despised and hated all
those that [who] thought or felt differently. Quite rigid in form, devoid
of all love, our thinking would have become; and the spirit
would finally have been pushed back so far into the background that
all contact with it would have been made forever impossible, and
the way into the spiritual world have been lost. The earth would have
become a moon. For this reason, those who have insight into the
higher spiritual worlds have brought spiritual science to
mankind.
But from what sources
does the science flow which is destined to save humanity from this
great danger?
Precisely on a day like
this, when a newly-founded Group is to be dedicated, it is indeed
appropriate to speak about these things.
These sources are still
concealed to most people, but gradually they will be revealed more
and more. And from out these sources spiritual science was created.
Now what does spiritual science say? It speaks of many things which
the ordinary human being, with his ordinary senses, does not
perceive. It says, for instance, that man does not only consist of
the externally visible body, but that he has a fourfold nature.
Besides the visible body he has also a life, or etheric body, not
visible for ordinary man, a sentient or astral body, and, as a fourth
member, he possesses the Ego, which passes from incarnation to
incarnation, in order, throughout a long period of time, to complete
its course of evolution. And spiritual science tells us still more.
It tells us, for example, that the earth itself also goes through an
evolution from one incarnation to the other, an evolution of a cosmic
nature. It shows us further how the sun and the planets play the most
important parts in this process of evolution, and how the existence
and development of all these celestial bodies are connected with
the existence of spiritual beings.
But what then is all
this? Where are the sources of these truths? They come from the
initiates. And who are the initiates? They are those whose spiritual
eyes have been opened, and who can therefore speak of the spiritual
world because they know this world. They are like those who can see
among the blind. Fichte has already alluded to this
relationship, and in truth for him who can see,
spiritual things are just as real as the physical ones, yes,
even more real, for the latter are for him only an outward expression
of the former.
It is true that when
the seer speaks of the etheric body, the sentient body, etc., and of
other revelations of a spiritual nature, many people will say that he
is a dreamer and a fantast and takes theories and mere hypotheses for
realities. The seer understands perfectly that those who do not
see should raise such objections. Among a group of physically
blind people we may speak as much and as exactly as we please about
colours and light, yet for the blind this remains mere theory; and
one who can see physically will be unable to disclose the concept,
the actual reality-laden, concept, of colour and light to one who is
physically blind. For to grasp this concept, the blind would have to
be able to see for themselves; and only when a blind person has
undergone a successful operation can the world of light dawn upon
him.
Let us try to picture
this relationship in still another way. Let us imagine that we
had a large receptacle full of water before us, and let us
suppose that there were a person who could neither see nor feel water
with his senses, nor perceive it in any way. For this person the
receptacle would be empty. Now let us suppose further that, in some
way, cold currents could be made to pass through the water, causing
it to freeze. At first ice-crystals, like needles, would form here
and there, and as they continued to form they would accumulate into
large clumps. But as ice is a solid substance, this person, who is
unable to perceive water, would nevertheless be able to perceive the
particles of ice as they formed. And what is it that he now
perceives? He perceives that ice is forming. But out of what does it
seem to him to be forming? Out of nothing!
This is the situation
in which the initiate finds himself in his relation to
other men. Where they see nothing, he sees. But now people say, How
can I believe that which I cannot verify for myself? And inasmuch as
I cannot do so, what object is there in occupying myself with such
things or in entering into them at all? In this respect it is
especially the dogmatists of monistic philosophy who
make the following demands firstly, that everything be
admitted which they themselves assert, and secondly, that no one may
know more than they know themselves. They set themselves up as
infallible and as able to determine the limits of knowledge.
The true initiate will
never deny the facts found by scientific investigation, but will
whole-heartedly acknowledge the truths and merits of science. He must
refuse, however, to admit that the scientific dogmatist is capable of
determining the limits of knowledge. The scientist is proud of
understanding, in contrast to believing. But if it is here a question
of believing and not believing, and the scientist is of the opinion
that belief plays no part in the results of his researches, he is
mistaken. It is simply impossible to investigate or to teach anything
without believing. Consider, for example, the cellular theory. In
books we have very fine representations of cells, the division of the
cells, the life of the cells, and so forth, clear and exact in every
detail. But who among us has ever really seen this for himself with
such distinctness? We all simply believe that it is so. Even the
university professors, who teach these things, have in the rarest
cases seen all this with their own eyes, and yet they lecture on it.
They have not been able to see it for themselves, because things of
this kind are both so difficult and so rarely possible to observe
that only a few single individuals have succeeded in seeing
them, and also because in reality they are by no means so clear
and distinct as they appear in the pictures. Let us also consider
embryology, for instance. Scientists believe that they know exactly
how the embryo looks at every moment throughout pregnancy. But how
extremely seldom is a scientist in the position, perhaps through a
sudden case of death occurring at a particular moment of pregnancy,
to have insight into these things! How many of these scientists have
never seen the things which they teach! But until he is able to see
for himself, the scientist is obliged to believe, and the
others with him. Yet he demands of spiritual science that no one
shall believe, and that no one shall know more than himself.
The essential character
of the initiate lies in the fact that he is able to see into the
spiritual world. For him the sources are spiritual scientific
knowledge.
Yes, but of what use is
this to those who do not possess this knowledge? A comparison will
show us this.
Look for a moment at
this stove! And now imagine that someone were to stand before this
stove and say to it: Thou stove, thou hast been created to
spread warmth! Bethink thee of thy mission and warm this room!
Would it do so? Would these words have any effect? No, the stove
would not stir. But if instead of speaking, we get wood and coal and
light the fire, then it will fulfill its mission.
So it is with the
communications of spiritual-scientific truths. They are fuel for
the human soul. For thousands of years morality has been preached and
people have been told, Be good and love one another.
But do they really then do so? Do not matters look rather sad in
spite of all Christian doctrines? In a town in southern Germany, a
preacher once said to me, I can make no objection whatever to
all that you say of the Gospels, but what is the use of founding
little conventicles for spiritual science here and there, when the
church carries on practical education on a large scale? Yes,
if this preacher were right, then it would indeed be of no use. But
he is not right, for if the church really performed its task in full
measure, from whence do so many evil deeds still continually arise?
And does everyone really go to church? In truth the church does not
teach practical morality, but stove morality. In our
day there are no longer many people who grow better simply upon
urgent request. And indeed it is just the most able and gifted people
who have turned away from the church. And were this to go on, the
adherents of the church would become scarcer and scarcer, and
materialism would become greater and greater, until one day not very
much would be left of the church. And this is just the reason why
spiritual science has come; it has become necessary, in order to
supply the fuel! It is itself fuel in this sense, for
the simple communication of truths from out the spiritual world
animates and furthers the spiritual development of the individual,
helping it forward not only in the sphere of morals, but also in
spiritual vision.
Even among students of
spiritual science there are those who are of the opinion that we need
only be good and noble and strive to attain perfection, and then in
the end our spiritual eyes will open of their own accord. At the same
time they think that the communication of higher truths is of no
great significance, and that we should only wait till we can see for
ourselves, till the veil is of itself withdrawn from before our eyes.
Those who think in this way are mistaken. They fail to recognise the
character of these communications which act as fuel. The essential
point it to stimulate active inner motion within the soul which would
not come about in any other way, nor develop of its own accord.
But what is it that can
shine forth within man, that will indeed shine forth within him, if
he understands and pursues his development aright, which is the task
of spiritual science? To explain this we shall have to go far back in
history.
We must go back as far
as the ancient Indian culture, which we call the age of the Seven
Rishis. These Seven Rishis were the initiates of this age and guided
the development of humanity. When, out of their spiritual vision,
they bore witness of the highest mysteries, they said, High
above all that exists there is a Cause, a Being, which we call
Vishva-Karman. We can neither know nor fathom it, it can only be
divined. It lies too distant, as it were, to be known by us. Later on
however, long after our time, it will draw nearer to humanity.
Then in a much later
period another initiate spoke about this Being. It was Zarathustra;
not the historical Zarathustra, but one who preceded him. When he
spoke to the people in his old, holy Persian language, the splendour
of which can scarcely be described to-day, he said, I see the
Highest Being in the sun, round about the sun. It is, indeed, in the
atmosphere of the sun. And that is why he called it Ahura
Mazdao the great Aura in contrast to man, the small
aura. In the great Aura he saw an image or a model for the small
aura, man. Ahura Mazdao is the same as Ormuzd. And Zarathustra taught
that in days to come Ahura Mazdao would manifest himself in man.
This was what he foresaw. But he saw also that there are forces in
man which hold him back and prevent the manifestation of the Highest
Being within him. These forces he called Ahriman the Evil.
Still later, in another
period, we again meet with a great initiate. Knowledge had, we might
say, drawn still closer to him. In the case of the Rishis the Highest
Being was concealed within universal space, as it were, immensely tar
away. For Zarathustra it had approached as far as the sun. But for
Moses knowledge was already close enough to be actually grasped. In
the burning thorn-bush which spoke to Moses, the Aura had become part
of the earthly elements. Moses knew that the Highest Being was
present in the earth. For the initiate, this Being had descended
first to the sun and then to the earth. Here it now lived within the
elements. And when Moses asked this Being what he was to tell the
people, the answer was I am the I am, Jahve.
With these words it becomes clear that this Being has come in order
to unfold its life more and more within the human Ego. This was,
however, not yet the case at that time. Man had not yet brought to
birth a consciousness of the Highest Being within his inmost
self. Moses, however, knew that this would come to pass.
And later still another
man appears upon whom spiritual vision was bestowed, namely, Paul. He
knew that this Highest Being was embodied in Jesus Christ. But he
could not believe, could not comprehend, that this Being had to die
upon the cross. Then he was initiated. That this was possible was due
to the peculiar circumstance that he had been born too early. One who
is born prematurely, a child that has not been carried in the womb
for nine months, has not descended quite so far into the world of
matter. For this reason it will be easier for such a person to attain
insight into the spiritual world. And when Paul became clairvoyant,
he saw that the Highest Being lived in Christ. Now it had actually
come to life in man. Therefore Christ said at the Last. Supper
The bread is My body, the wine is My blood. Bread earth;
wine, or the juice of the plant Spirit.
I wanted to lead you
thus far to-day, so that you might feel what it signifies that such a
Being has approached the earth, has descended into the earth. And
this is what took place at Golgotha.
Did this Being really
stream out over the earth at Golgotha? In order to answer this let us
examine and compare a time 600 years before the birth of Christ, let
us say, with a time 600 years after the birth of Christ. What has
happened here wherein does the difference consist?
600 years before
Christ, Buddha lived. He lived in a king's palace. Then he went out
into the world and learned to know old age, sickness, poverty, death,
and the corpse. He saw that the whole life of man is suffering. Old
age is suffering, sickness is suffering, poverty is suffering, birth
is suffering, death is suffering, to be parted from those whom
we love is suffering; in short, the whole of existence is
suffering. So he said to himself, and taught the people, that they
must lose, must learn to forget, their craving for existence. Here we
have the hopeless renunciation of all creation
But 600 years later
came the Mystery of Golgotha. As a symbol we see a cross erected, and
upon the cross a human corpse. And the people look up to the corpse
and are filled with a sense that all suffering can be healed. Herein
lies a great difference. In death human beings no longer see the
token of suffering, but the token of the healing of suffering. They
can become victors over all that their life here on earth brings
them. And this means that a fruit will be carried over into the other
life.
If man now understands
that birth and life are not suffering, but afford the possibility of
emerging from it, inasmuch as life gives him the opportunity
to develop the Spiritual which leads out beyond all suffering
if man understands this, old age is no longer suffering, but a
drawing nearer to the fruit of life. Death is no longer suffering,
but redemption; not to be united with those he loves is no longer
suffering, if he has united himself with the Christ-Being, the Being
of infinite Love, and thus envelops with his love all beings and all
worlds.
All this was felt 600
years after Christ, and since that time it has been possible for man
to feel united with the Christ, the Spirit of the Sun, Who is also
the Spirit of the Earth Who, even as he permeates the earth,
permeates also each one of us, and calls forth mildness, warmth and
love within our souls Who awakens infinite love and
transforms the earth.
Because spiritual
science, in communicating spiritual truths, does not teach
morals, but gives a basis for practical morality, it will build a
bridge leading into the spiritual world for the man of to-day. It may
well be that those who stand at the apex of our present culture, the
leading personalities in industry and learning, those who have the
greatest influence, will smile at these small conventicles of
spiritual science, and also at all that is investigated here. But let
them think what they like! At one time there was also a mighty world
of Roman culture that ancient, imperial Rome, the ruins
of which we still admire. In the ancient gigantic Coliseum incense
was burned to drown the smell of flesh which arose where the
Christians had been torn to pieces by wild beasts. That was ancient
Rome, above, in the daylight. And below? Let us descend into the
catacombs! There we find the first followers of Christianity, of the
Mystery of Golgotha, persecuted and despised. There below,
hidden away, they worship Christ; there they perform their symbolic
rituals. Down there the first Christian communities are founded.
Although small in number and despised, they never doubt. Down below a
little flock, despised and outcast; up above, a mighty throng who
have great influence. Yet a few centuries later ancient Rome has
disappeared; and those who were there below, in the under-world, have
ascended. In the same way spiritual science will ascend in a few
centuries, will rise above industry, learning, and the various
concerns of humanity to-day. Yet if, in your little
conventicles, you compare yourselves with those of subterranean Rome,
do so, not with a feeling of pride, but with humility. And if you
picture to yourselves how the brilliant science of our present day
will melt away before spiritual science, then picture this to
yourselves in humility only. If you take this feeling with you and
carry it with you from this hour, so that it always remains alive
within your souls, you will help to spread universal human love, and
you will enter into a new culture.
I call upon all the
good spiritual forces that they may watch over this newly-founded
Group, and may help you to attain your goal and facilitate your work.
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