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Rudolf Steiner e.Lib
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(On) Apocalyptic Writings
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib Document
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(On) Apocalyptic Writings
Schmidt Number: S-0918
On-line since: 30th November, 2003
Before I go further in the explanation of apocalyptic writings, I must
again repeat that this explanation can be of real value only to those
who have been in the Theosophical Movement for a considerable time and
who approach the theosophical view of the world with a certain
sympathetic understanding. A great deal will have to be said here that
may well cause opponents to attribute all kinds of phantastic things
to Theosophy, and which, to begin with, will be regarded by
rationalistic thinkers as so much brain-spinning. Familiarity with the
nature of theosophical thought and feeling is essential if what is
said in connection with the Apocalypse is not to be misunderstood.
What I have said about the relation of Christianity to Jesus [the]
Christ and about the relation of the writer of the Apocalypse to Jesus
must be kept firmly in mind if we are to understand what follows.
The keystone for a true understanding of the place of Christianity in
the world lies in the saying: Blessed are those who believe even
though they do not see.
As I have already said, the significance of this utterance lies in the
fact that what formerly took place in the deep secrecy of the
Mystery-Temples was carried through Christianity on to the great arena
of the world. This does not gainsay in the very slightest the
historic actuality of the happenings in Palestine between the years 1
and 33 A.D. The standpoint of those who see to the root of these
things will far rather be that the familiar Christian tradition is
historic truth. In this respect, therefore, Theosophy is in agreement
at every point with what Christians believe. But the historic fact at
the beginning of our time-reckoning is something else as well, and we
understand it rightly when we think of it as a mystical fact, when we
realise that the way of the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection, the
Ascension, are historic happenings which were formerly enacted in the
Mysteries.
There is a word in the Bible which indicates how the ancient mystery
is related to its own fulfilment, to Christianity. In Christianity,
everything that pointed to Christ before His actual appearance is
called: the Promise. Those who understand these things know that
Promise means nothing else than that what took place in
Palestine had been Promised in the secrecy of the
Mysteries. We can understand it from the very words of ancient
scripts. Think only of the Mysteries of Greece. What was enacted in
those Mysteries, in deep secrecy, and experienced only by the
Initiates, was the Passion, Dying and Resurrection of the Son of
God. They experienced it through the preparation they had
undergone, through their training on higher planes. Thus in the
Mysteries the Initiate beheld the Passion, the Dying and the
Resurrection of the Son of God. This was portrayed before their eyes
of spirit. That is the Promise. And then this Promise was fulfilled
in Palestine. This is the explanation of the utterance: blessed
not only are those who were seers in the Mysteries, but also those who
are able to believe not merely in the Word revealed to the Mystics,
but in the Word made Flesh. That is the meaning of this utterance. It
is from this point of view that we must understand the relation in
which John the Apocalyptist stands to the Mysteries of antiquity and
to the Christian Mystery. Light will then be thrown on many a passage.
It is said in the Apocalypse that seven seals are opened. What does
the opening of seals mean, in the language in which the Apocalypse is
written?
Since time immemorial, the secret of the Sons of God becoming man was
announced prophetically to the mystics. And in the language of the
Apocalypse, the presentation of this secret on the physical plane is
called the opening of a seal. In the language of occultism, the
opening of a seal means nothing else than the proclamation of
something that was formerly made known only to the Initiates and
presented only within the Mysteries. The picture given is correct in
its very details. What is later revealed was in earlier times beheld
within the Mysteries. During the time of the Mysteries there was no
book which recorded what happened in the Mysteries. This came only
later. Such a book is the Gospel. The Gospel contains what was
formerly presented in the Mysteries, and what is written there is
unsealed for those who are ready for it.
And who will be ready? Here is something that you must grasp in its
whole setting in the Apocalypse. Something is proclaimed to seven
Communities. You have heard that these seven Communities are
representatives of the seven sub-races of the Fifth Root Race. Who,
then, are the Proclaimers? And who are those to whom the proclamation
is made? Here we must think from the esoteric point of view of the
appearance of Christ as compared with other appearances. (If you have
read the last number of the magazine Lucifer you will
there find something that I will now briefly repeat.)
The evolution of mankind stands under the direction of mighty Leaders
who guide its onward progress. In the language of esotericism these
Leaders are called Manus. A Manu, therefore, is the Being who at the
beginning of a race gives the great impulse, the direction in which
the race is to evolve. We are living now in the Fifth Root Race. When,
after the destruction of the Fourth Root Race (the Atlantean) this
Fifth Root Race began its development, the great impulse was given by
the Manu of the Fifth Root Race. The Manu is not in the same sense a
man among men as other outstanding human individualities. Even before
mankind on the earth was filled with spirit, the Manu had already
reached a lofty stage of development. It was in the Third Root Race,
when in the middle of the Lemurian epoch the human spirit flashed up
for the first time in the human body, that such leaders came to the
human race. When men were young, when they were still children, they
could not lead themselves. But their leaders were not of the same
nature as themselves. These Beings who had already reached a higher
stage of development in an evolution that is not that of man, were so
advanced, that they could be leaders of the human race before the
spirit had incarnated in the bodies of men.
These were superhuman Beings. These superhuman beings are of two
kinds. The one kind, who were already leaders at the time when, in
respect of the Spiritual, men were still children, these Beings had
already advanced so far that they had reached a stage which will be
reached by humanity only in the far distant future. These highly
developed individualities, the Manus, are called in the language of
esotericism, the Holy Spirits.
The second category of Beings were already nearer to man's level, but
still superhuman. They are called, Sons of God. And the
next group of individualities were those who were already men among
men.
If we go back to the middle of the Lemurian epoch and survey man's
whole evolution, we find three grades of individualities who have
something to do with humanity. There is a group of very lofty
individualities who long, long ago, in the far past, had already
passed through the stages of evolution which man will attain only in
the distant future. They are the Holy Spirits. A second
group are the Sons of God. They stand nearer to man but
are nevertheless far more exalted than he. And the third group are
those who, as human beings were still children, but were nevertheless
the most advanced among those early men. They are the
Fathers or Pitris.
We have therefore three grades of beings and these three grades of
beings are the guides and leaders of mankind.
If we now go back once again to the beginning of the Fifth Root Race,
we find the superhuman Manu, by whom the great impulse was given. But
in the course of the Fifth Root Race, something very significant comes
to pass, namely that in the course of the Fifth Root Race, men
themselves progress so far that a few of them will be able to take
into their hands the spiritual guidance of the human race. Those whom
we call Fathers or Elders, will then be able
to guide and lead men as formerly they were led by the superhuman
Beings. Thus the guidance and leadership of mankind passes over from
the Manus to those who are Human Brothers, Brothers
of Men.
The Holy Spirits, the Sons of God, the Fathers, become the leaders of
the human race in the successive epochs of time. The
Fathers are also called Elders.
When the Word took on human form, so says the writer of the
Apocalypse, this Word, the Logos, took on human form as the
Son, just as formerly the Word took on human form as a
Spirit, or since Christian esotericism calls the Spirit
Angel, before the Word became Flesh, the Word was an
Angel. This is Christian esotericism. First, the Word or
the Logos is an Angel, then the Word became Flesh as Son, and then the
Word will become Elder or Father. These are
the successive stages. The Christian Initiates have always understood
this. But their words must be rightly understood.
Paul, one of the greatest Christian Initiates, could only hint at
these profound secrets. But he gave an indication of what I have just
been saying. When the Word was still an Angel, the Word was still on
the super-sensible plane. The Word is spoken from out of the clouds,
from the super-sensible, when Commandments are proclaimed. The age of
the Law is the age of the Promise. The time of
the Law was when the Word was an Angel. Then the Word became Flesh and
later on the Word will become Elder or Father.
Paul was an Initiate, and proclaimed this in the Epistle to the
Galatians in the following words:
The law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live
in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us; for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on
a tree; that the blessing of Abraham might come on the gentiles,
through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it be
but man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man annulleth, or
addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He
saith not, and to seeds as of many; but as of one and to thy seed,
which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed
before of God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty
years after cannot annul, that it should make the promise of none
effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of
promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth
the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should
come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in
the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but
God is one. Is the law then against the promise of God? God forbid;
for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the law.
Other passages, too, indicate that the Word was an Angel, but
subsequently became Flesh. What happened through the Word becoming
Flesh? It was proclaimed to the sub-races of the Fifth Root Race how
they should develop on into the future. In the Letters to the seven
Communities, the author of the Apocalypse indicates how evolution
proceeds. Not all human beings reach the goal, not all those who have
entered into this evolutionary process reach the goal in the due time.
Something very significant comes to pass. In order to understand it
aright, let us ask: How does the writer of the Apocalypse help us to
understand the Fathers, the Elders? Do we find the Elders themselves
in the Gospel? Yes, they are there at the time when the Angel has
become the Son. At that time the Fathers are not yet ready to receive
the Word into themselves. They must wait for a future time. In the age
of the Promise, the Fathers have not progressed sufficiently. They
will understand the Word only at the end of the Fifth Root Race, when
within themselves as Fathers, they will understand what remained
hidden from them at the time when Christ, their Master, was on earth.
The twelve Disciples are Elders. They are destined again to come into
the presence of Christ. Then, at the end of the Fifth Root Race, the
Book that was given to them sealed, will be unsealed.
Again something of particular significance comes to pass in evolution.
We are told what conditions will be when the Fifth Root Race has
progressed, to the point where it must be decided whether the time has
come for the transition into the Sixth Root Race. I shall merely
indicate things upon which I will speak more fully in later lectures.
The coming of the Sixth Root Race is announced by the sounding of
trumpets. Quote from Rev. IV;12 And the fourth Angel sounded,
and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the
moon, and the third, part of the stars; so as the third part of them
was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the
night likewise.
This refers to the third part that has remained behind, which however,
need not have happened. The Letters to the Communities contain not
only warnings and admonitions but also sharp reproof. Not all reach
the goal. A third part (of humanity) falls away completely from
evolution. We have therefore one third which will attain the goal,
one third which lags behind, and one
third which does not reach the goal and falls completely away. One
third attains its goal, a second third will only later attain its
goal, making together two thirds; and at the end of the Fifth Root
Race, only one third of those who began evolution will have reached
the necessary stage of development.
Seventy-two Elders were called upon to enter into evolution and to
develop to further stages. The admonitions to the Communities which it
devolved upon the Elders to lead, indicates that only a third reach
the goal. If we take a third of 72 Elders, we have 24 Elders who will
still be there when the seven seals of the Book are opened. This
revelation of God's majesty is something which was proclaimed, by the
appearance of Christ. Quote from Rev. IV: After this I looked
and behold, a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I
heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said,
Come up hither and I will shew thee things which must be
hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a
throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat
was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone, and there was a
rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And
round about the throne were four and twenty seats, and upon the seats
I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and
they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne
proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices, and there were seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits
of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto
crystal, and in the midst of the throne were four beasts full of eyes
before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion and the second
beast like a calf and the third beast had a face as a man, and the
fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of
them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within, and they
rest not day and night, saying Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty
which was and is and is to come. And when those beasts gave glory and
honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever
and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on
the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and cast
their crowns before the throne saying, Thou are worthy, O Lord,
to receive glory and honour and Power, for thou hast created all
things and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
This is the future stage of evolution when those who have overcome
will have become Fathers in the true sense.
I said that what once took place, in the deep secrecy of the Mysteries
will, in later times, be unsealed. I have told you that Christ's
appearance on earth was presented in the Greek Mysteries. What was
then a secret was unveiled through the appearance of Christ. We could
have gone into the Greek Mysteries and we should there have beheld the
Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension. The seven seals belong to
the future. If a mystery is also proclaimed then, it will again be a
mystery of which the seal belongs to a still later future.
As far as this is possible, I will tell you of a mystery that has been
celebrated ever since the time of the ancient Indian Rishis and is of
deepest significance. I will try to render it in the following way, in
symbolism. There is a horse, with the front foot raised. Upon this
horse sits a divine figure with a bow. The figure gives a sign and the
horse tramples a serpent on the head with its foot. This is the horse
Kalki. This signifies that everything of a lower nature falls away,
that there will come a future when the Son of the Gods, he who sits
upon the horse, will come and who, as king adorned with the crown,
will bring the revelation of what is hidden in the book with the seven
seals. This is a mystery that is everywhere to be found. I have only
been able to indicate it in an entirely external way. But today it is
still a mystery that can be experienced and beheld only by an
Apocalyptist, but in the future times will be unveiled within us, just
as John has revealed and written down for us the unsealing of the old
world. Then we shall realise that it points to the time when the
Elders, the Fathers, receive the revelation of what underlies this
mystery and is revealed at its unsealing.
Quote from Rev. VI:1-3 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the
seals; and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four
beasts saying, come and see. And I saw, and beheld a white horse, and
he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he
went forth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the
second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see.
This is repeated four times. The unsealing of the mystery of the
Fathers, as it is contained in Christianity, is of all words spoken in
the Mysteries, the most significant. Whence comes man? Whither does
his development lead? From the Father to the Father. This is revealed
through the Mediator. No one cometh to the Father save through
me.
The whole of world evolution, that of the past and that of the future,
actually comes to expression in the Apocalypse. Even these indications
are of the most elementary kind. We must first be able to employ the
words of the Apocalypse in their true meaning. We shall learn more and
more from them.
Today I only wanted to call forth a feeling that by steeping oneself
in this work, one realises that its depths are inexhaustible. Of this
I can assure you: The Apocalypse is one of those writings in the face
of which we learn true humility, true piety and through which we learn
what the Indian esotericist calls Faith (Glauben). There is an
experience which imparts this Faith to us in the deepest sense, and it
is the following: After we have made efforts to understand such a
writing, we believe, to begin with, that we know a little about it.
But when we try to go into it still more deeply, as deeply as our
powers allow, we find that our earlier interpretation was utterly
childish. We realise that only now do we rightly understand what is
said. And having done this and after a lapse of time again take up the
book, the same experience is repeated. When this has happened several
times, Shradda (Faith) comes to us. We steep ourselves again and again
in such a writing, finding in it ever greater depths. That is the
inexhaustible fount of such writings, which we can read with
unshakable confidence but can never come to an end of their meaning.
This is at the same time an urge to be humble in our attitude towards
such writings, to delve into them more and more deeply. It will be
clear to us then that if a really profound explanation seems to have
been found, it will become ever more profound, in time to come. From
this springs the consciousness that the greatest treasures given to
man do not stem from human imperfection but from divine perfection,
for this is verily divine wisdom, revelation of divine wisdom.
Documents of wisdom are given to us in these books. Our understanding
of them is still feeble, for these writings come to us, not from men,
not from below, but from above, through the Gods. We have to develop
to their heights. This gives the esotericist a feeling of the truth of
words which must become part of his very life, must be his guiding
maxim, and which must permeate theosophists ever more deeply. For it
is not dogmatic knowledge, not doctrinal knowledge, that makes a man a
theosophist, but the fact that he is steeped through and through with
the wisdom of this utterance, that his whole attitude of mind and
feeling is filled with the wisdom which it contains: The Highest
it is given from the Primal Beginning; The Highest it
will be understood through man at the end of the days.
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