XIV.
FURTHER STAGES OF ROSICRUCIAN TRAINING.
Yesterday I
described to you the Rosicrucian Initiation up to the third
stage the
Knowledge of Occult Writing.
We therefore learned to know what is designated in the Rosicrucian
meaning as
Study,
then the
Acquisition of Imaginative Knowledge,
and then what is termed as the
Penetration into the Occult Writing
into that writing which is taken out of the laws of Nature themselves.
[Note 1]
Now it behooves us to proceed
to the fourth stage of Rosicrucian Initiation, to the one
which is called
The Preparation of the Stone and the Wise.
We should realise that only in the present time
has it become possible to say something about that which the
Rosicrucians really meant by the Preparation of the Stone of
the Wise.
By that name
were known certain rules for the entrance into the higher
worlds, and these rules have existed ever since the founder
of Rosicrucianism inaugurated this movement in 1459. You must
bear in mind that this spiritual current has always been
handled with the greatest precaution and has always been kept
secret.
Towards the end
of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, certain
secrets of Rosicrucianism leaked out in an unjustified
manner, owing, to a kind of treason; at that time several
things connected with these secrets were printed, but from
these publications one could gather that the, people in
question had an inkling of these secrets, but did not
understand them; never the less they at least heard the right
words or picked them up so to speak, also in regard to the
“Stone of the Wise”.
At that time a series of communications appeared even in the
“Reichsanzeiger” on a society whose task it was
to prepare the Stone of the Wise; among these communications
there is also one which can only be understood by those who
know what it is about. It states: “Yes, the Stone of
the Wise exists; it is known to almost everyone; indeed, most
people have even held it in their hand; it is not at all
difficult to find it, — but most people do not know
this!”
The idea of the
Stone of Wise was connected with the meaning that little by
little it enabled one to know man's immortal part, which
cannot decay after death, for it leads one up into the higher
worlds. If a human being realizes that this immortal part
cannot fall a prey tOo death, he acquires an immortal life
through the possession of the Stone of the Wise, and thus he
overcomes death. This had been interpreted as meaning that
one would never die. But it means instead that thereby one
learns to know the world where man lives after death.
Moreover one saw in the Stone of the Wise an elixir of life.
All this rendered the Stone of the Wise extremely desirable.
Those who knew the true meaning of these things must have
found these words strangely correct; for they are true
— but those who do not know the secret cannot do much
with them.
Let me now show
you quite briefly what these words really mean. If you wish
to understand them, please follow me in the contemplation of
a plain, natural-scientific fact: — You must be clear
as to the relation existing between the human being and the
vegetable kingdom. It is a fact that all those who breathe as
man breathes, could never exist if there were no plants. Now
try to become acquainted with the process which takes place
between you and the plants.
You breath in
the air and use the oxygen of the air. You could not live, if
there were no oxygen. When you take in the air and work upon
the oxygen in your organism, you breathe out carbonic acid, a
combination of carbon and oxygen. You must therefore say: Man
continually takes in oxygen which maintains his body, and he
breathes out carbonic acid; consequently he continually
creates a poison which could kill him. You continually fill
your environment with a poison. — What does the plant
do? In a certain way it does exactly the contrary! It takes
in carbonic acid, keeps the carbon, and sends out the oxygen
which it does not need. Thus you give the plant what it needs
and the plant gives you oxygen in return. What does the plant
do with the carbon which it retains? To a certain extent it
uses the carbon to build up its own body. You therefore give
the plant, so to speak, the opportunity to build up its body
out of carbon. — And after thousands of years, when you
dig the plant out of the earth in the form of coal,you have
it in the same substance.
The plant gives
you oxygen, You breathe it in. You give the plant carbonic
acid, it retains the carbon, uses it to build up its body and
returns you oxygen. This is a wonderful alternating process,
which thus takes place. This is what happens to-day. But man
is developing, and in the future, the human body itself will
have the organ which transforms carbonic acid into oxygen,
retaining the carbon.
Here I am
indicating a future state of development of man, a different
condition from that which I pointed out to you yesterday,
when speaking bf the Rosicrucian path of training. In the
future man will have a passionless body of a higher order, a
body which you may find to-day upon a lower stage in the
plant; man will be able to build up a body which will be
plant-Like upon a higher stage. In the organ which now
constitutes his heart he will have an apparatus which will be
able to do that which the plant does to-day. Now. the human
being and the plant belong together; one could not live
without the other. If there were no plants, all the beings
who breathe in oxygen would have to die in a very short time,
because it is the plant which supplies us with oxygen. We
cannot imagine life without plants. But what the plant now
does outside, will in the future be done by that organ into
which our heart will develop when the heart shall have become
a muscle which we ourselves control. We spread out our
consciousness over the plants; we grow together with the
vegetable world, so that in the future that which the plant
now does outside our being will take place within our being.
Then we shall also retain the carbon which we now discard,
and build up our body with it. We shall be like the plants
upon a higher stage of consciousness.
From primeval
ages, occultism weaves all this into a wonderful legend. It
is the Golden Legend. And what I have explained to
you to-day was imparted to the pupil of occultism in the form
of an image. The legend was more or less as follows:
—
When Seth, the
son whom God gave Adam and Eve in place of the murdered Abel,
once entered Paradise„ he found the Tree of Knowledge
and the Tree of Life inter-grown; their branches intertwined.
From this tree Seth took three seeds, following the command
of the Angel who guided him. He kept the three seeds and when
Adam died, he placed them into Adam's mouth. And a tree grew
out of Adam's grave; to those who knew how to look upon it in
the right way, this tree revealed a writing in flaming
letters — the words: “Ejeh Asher Ejeh. I am He
that was. He that is, He that shall be.” Now Seth took
some wood from this tree and many things were made out of it:
among them the rod which became the magic rod of Moses. And
this tree multiplied; from its wood the portal of Solomon's
temple was made, and later on, when it had passed through
many other destinies, it became the Cross upon which the
Savior hung.
The legend thus
connects the wood of the Cross of Golgotha with the tree
which grew out of Adam' s grave from the seeds of the Tree of
Paradise.
[Note 2]
This legend
conceals the same mystery which I indicated to you to-day. It
meant to say: In primeval ages the human race had not yet
sunk down to the flesh with passion; it was pure and chaste
like the plant which stretches out its calyx to the sun. The
human beings then descended through the “fall into
sin”; their flesh was filled with passion. But
everything which the human being once possessed in the state
of innocence will be regained if he succeeds in forming
through knowledge a body devoid of passion, the body which he
once had before acquiring knowledge. Bear in mind the origin
of the Ego. That the human being no longer possesses that
innocent body, is connected with the fact that he began to
breathe through the lungs and was able to form his red blood.
Man's present form, and the fact that this form is the bearer
of knowledge in the present meaning, is therefore connected
with his breathing and the circulation of the blood.
Now transfer
yourselves into the human body of to-day. You can imagine the
oxygen streaming into it and stimulating the red blood, you
can look upon the blood as a tree with many branches reaching
into every part of the body, and you can see the blue blood
streaming back filled with carbonic acid.
You have two
trees within you: the tree of the red blood, and the tree of
the blue bl00d. Man, as the bearer of an Ego, could not exist
without these two trees. He had to take in the blood in order
to have an Ego, and that is how our modern knowledge arises;
this forms its foundation. But death was connected with this
development, for you constantly transform the red blood into
blue blood filled with carbonic acid! The occult teacher of
the Old Testament therefore said: “Look upon your own
being: you have within you the red tree of blood; without
this tree you would never have become a cognitive human
being. You have eaten of the Tree of Knowledge; but this gave
you at the same time the possibility to give life.”
That which was
once a Tree of Life became a death-bringing tree; the blue
blood-tree within-us is therefore the Tree of Death. This is
the present state of things. But the initiate sees a future
state, when the human being shall have the plant-nature
within him, when the heart-organ shall transform the
blue blood into red blood in a direct way, within the human
being. Then the Tree of Death shall have become the Tree of
Life and man shall have become an immortal being. What man
once was upon a lower stage, he shall once more become upon a
higher stage, and he will have within him the apparatus which
now exists in the plant.
Paradise thus
shows us a final state of humanity. Seth' s mission, so the
occult teachers explained, was that he saw that which comes
at the end of the times: the balancing of the two principles
within the human being. Thus the Tree of Life and the Tree of
Knowledge intertwine in Paradise; but in man they can only
exist if he seeks aid from the plant. But how can he acquire
the faculty through which the two trees intertwine within his
being? By developing within him the three higher members of
human nature.
We have learned
that the human being consists of physical body, etheric body,
astral body, and Ego, and we have seen that when the Ego
works upon the astral body it produces the first higher
member; when it works upon the etheric body, the second
higher member; and when it works upon the physical body, the
third one. The future human being will therefore consist of
seven parts, for he will also have the Spirit-Self, the
Life-Spirit, and the Spirit-Man.
When the human
being thus transforms his lower nature, he will have the Tree
of Life within him. At the beginning of his development man
has therefore been predisposed through his Ego for the
unfolding of his three higher members.
Seth took three
seeds and the first Ego-man, Adam, let these seeds grow into
a tree. This tree contains that which passes through every
incarnation. During your first incarnation your Ego was upon
a very low stage, but from incarnation to incarnation it
reaches ever higher stages. What grows out of it is the
symbol for the eternal part in man. which will reach its
greatest perfection at the end of the Earth. But we shall
only attain to this if we connect ourselves with everything
that is highest along the path of the Spirit. Everything
which leads humanity upwards along this path — the rod
of Moses, Solomon' s Temple, and finally the Cross upon
Golgotha — helps us to unfold fully the higher trinity
within us. The Cross of Golgotha indicates the path leading
to the highest fulfillment of man. At the beginning the seed
from which that Tree grew was laid in Adam's mouth (this
cannot be expressed more beautifully than in this Legend!),
it was the seed which Seth had gained in the manner
described. Here you have the path of humanity throughout the
ages, the path of humanity through Time. And in future, man
will have to attain that which the plant can do to-day: the
transformation of his being, the capacity to produce carbon
within himself, through his own power. Man will in the future
master the alchemy of the plant.
The alchemistic
preparation of what I have just now described to you was
reached by giving the Rosicrucian pupil certain indications
on the way in which he had to regulate his breathing process.
This can only be grasped if we bear in mind the proverb: The
steadily falling drop hollows out the stone. But the
Rosicrucian pupil works towards this future goal. Even as the
drop, small as it is, after a long time achieves hollow in
the stone, so the progress of the human bodies is brought
about by this regulation of the breathing process. The
indications given to the Rosicrucian pupil enable him to
prepare, even to-day, a condition in which the Ego acquires
the faculty to contemplate the future state of being in the
higher worlds. The Rosicrucian pupil therefore does two
things: In the first place he helps to prepare the future of
humanity, and secondly he himself acquires the power of
looking into the spiritual worlds; he sees that which will
later on come down into physical reality.
Now you will be
able to understand the indications which were published by
that strange man, though he did not understand them. The
Stone of the Wise is the ordinary black coal; but you must
learn the process enabling you to elaborate the carbon
through your inner forces: this constitutes the future of
mankind. The present coal is a prototype of that which will
one day constitute the most important substance of the human
being. Bear in mind the clear diamond: also the diamond is
nothing but carbon! This was called,
the “Preparation of the Stone of the Wise”
in the Rosicrucian
world-conception. It conceals a process of transformation in
the human being and the call to work upon future conditions
of humanity,. All who work in this way help to prepare the
human bodies of the future, the bodies which will in future
be needed by the human souls.
There is a
saying which expresses very beautifully this work upon future
states of being, and we shall be able to understand it after
having made a clean distinction between the development of
souls and of races.
In the past,
all of you were Atlanteans, but these Atlantean bodies
presented an entirely different aspect, — as I have
already explained to you. Within your present body lives the
same soul which once lived somewhere in an Atlantean body.
But not every body has been prepared, as yours are being
prepared, today, by a few colonists, who at that time
migrated from the West to the East. Those who remained
behind, those who connected themselves, aS one says, with the
race, decayed, whereas those who had progressed, founded new
cultures. The last stragglers along the path leading
eastwards, the Mongolians, have preserved something of the
Atlantean culture. They have not progressed; they remained
within the race. In the same way, when a new age dawns, the
bodies of those who do not progress, will become the Chinese
of the future. Also in the future there will be decadent
races. In Chinese bodies live souls who had to incarnate
again within the Chinese race, because during the Atlantean
time they were attracted too strongly by their race. The
souls that dwell within you to-day will in the future
incarnate in bodies proceeding from those who are now working
in the manner described, producing the bodies of the future,
in the same way in which the first colonists of the
Atlanteans prepared the bodies of coming ages. And those who
cling to everyday things, who do not wish to connect
themselves with that which the future holds in store, will
melt together within the race.
There are
people who wish to remain within traditional things, who do
not wish to know anything of progress and who do not listen
to those who can lead them beyond the race to ever new forms
of humanity. The myth has preserved this tendency in a
wonderful way; for it can not be described more appropriately
Than by pointing to one of the greatest, who spoke the words:
“Those who do not forsake father and mother, wife and
child, brother and sister, cannot be my disciples”, and
by setting forth the tragic aspect of a man who says:
“I do not wish to have anything to de with such a
guide!, and who rejects Him. How can this be expressed more
clearly than by the image of him who rejects the guide and
who cannot progress! This is the legend of Ahasver, the
Wandering Jew, who sat at the feet of Christ Jesus and
rejected the greatest of all Guides, who did not wish to know
anything of the course of evolution and must therefore remain
with his race and always return within his race.
[Note 3]
These are myths which are given to
humanity as a perpetual reminder, so that it may know the
gist of things.
This fourth
stage of Rosicrucian training must therefore be looked upon
as something of immense depth, and humanity thus gradually
develops the
“Preparation of the Stone of the Wise.”
The fifth stage
is the correspondence of microcosm and macrocosm. The whole
complicated human body, such as it exists now, has arisen in
a special way. My lectures have led you through the Saturn,
Sun, Moon and Earth conditions; Upon Saturn, only the first
foundations of your sensory system existed; only this existed
of everything which now constitutes your physical body, and
it was embedded in the Saturn-substance, even as crystals are
now embedded in the earth-substance. Your eye was like a
crystal of quartz. Upon the Sun, the glands which were your
highest organs were constituted in such a way that they
covered the surface of the Sun. And upon the Moon the organs
which form your nervous system were spread over the Moon's
surface. The Moon had a nervous system in which the
men-animals who lived upon the Moon had a share. Upon the
Earth, man acquired his osseous system; this was not possible
upon the Moon, for it had no mineral kingdom.
This shows you
hew wonderful is the structure of the human body. The organ
of sight, the eye such we have it now, was once spread over
the whole of Saturn; and what was once spread out in the
great cosmos outside, entered our being in regard to each
organ, occult science can tell you how it is connected with
the macrocosm, with the great world outside, for something in
the external world corresponds to the liver, the spleen, the
heart, etc. Spiritual science can also tell you what had to
take place in the external world so that these organs might
arise. The Rosicrucian schooling enables us to immerse
ourselves in our sense-organs, to penetrate from within into
our eyes and ears, and to gain a clairvoyant knowledge of the
development of these organs.
I have led you
back to an epoch in the Atlantean evolution when the etheric
body still emerged so far above the physical body that it
could not coincide with a point in our head which is just
above the root of the nose. We have seen that the etheric
body then gradually penetrated into the physical body and
that tile physical body took on its present form. Now there
is one method of immersion, connected with a certain formula
which can only be communicated by word of mouth. When you
thus concentrate yourself upon that point where the physical
part of the head coincides with the above-mentioned point of
the etheric head, then you learn to know what the earth was
like at that time, when the etheric head began to enter the
physical head. In a similar way you may enter every part of
your body, of your microcosm, and thus gain knowledge of the
forces which hold sway in the macrocosm. Man is the most
complicated of all beings, and even as the message contained
in a telegram enables you to identify the sender, so the
immersion in this or in that organ of your body enables you
to gain knowledge of the creative powers which gave rise to
it.
This leads us
on to the sixth stage, which is called the Immersion in
the Cosmos. Those who have learned to know, in the
manner described above, the relationship between microcosm
and macroc0sm, have gained a knowledge which embraces the
whole world. This fact is concealed behind the ancient motto:
“Know thyself!” But a very harmful influence has
been exercised by theosophists who say: Within you lies the
whole godhead; the highest principle is contained within your
being. Thus all you need to do is look into your being , to
look within yourself, and this will enable you to know the
whole world.
Yet this inner
brooding is the most foolish thing we can do, for it only
leads to the knowledge of our lower self, which we have in
any case. Self-immersion never shows us more than we have
already have. Real self-knowledge only arises in the
complicated manner described above, and then it is at the
same time world-knowledge.
A genuine
theosophical teaching does not make things easy for us, but
it must say: Calm, earnest meditation should lead you to the
knowledge even of the most complicated Beings. You cannot
recognise the Godhead otherwise than by learning to know it
piece by piece in the world outside. Patience and
perseverance are needed for this. Calm, slow progress leads
you to a knowledge of the world. Theosophy cannot give you a
universal formula supplying knowledge all at once; it can
only indicate the path long which you can gain self-knowledge
and world-knowledge. This will lead you to a knowledge of
God.
On the sixth
stage of Rosicrucian schooling we do not attain to a dry,
intellectual form of knowledge, but to one which is
intimately connected with the world, with the universe. Those
who have this knowledge, are intimately connected with
everything in the universe; it is a connection which a modern
men can only understand by bearing in mind the mysterious
love-relationship between man and woman, which is based upon
a secret knowledge of the other's being. The contemplation of
the macrocosm leads not only to an understanding of the
world, but to an intimate connection with every being,
resembling that of lovers. In that case you will have an
intimate relationship, a kind of love relationship with the
plant, with the stone, with every creature in the universe.
You will develop a specialized love for every being; to each
one you will say something which you would not have said had
you not reached this deeper understanding.
Animals eat the
substances which suit its constitution and do not touch those
that might harm it. This is based on a sympathetic relation
towards certain things and an antipathetic one towards
others. Man had to lose this direct connection with things in
order to reach his present form of knowledge, but he will
regain this connection upon a higher stage. What enables a
modern occultist to know that the plant's blossom has another
influence upon the human body than the root? And how does he
know that the influence of an ordinary root differs from that
of a carrot? Because these things speak to him, as they do to
animals upon a lower stage. Animals do not have a conscious
understanding of such things, but man will regain this direct
connection with the substances and beings of the universe,
upon the highest stages of consciousness.
The seventh
stage of Rosicrucian schooling naturally follows the sixth
one. Everything which I have told you so far will have shown
you that the knowledge involved is chiefly connected with
soul-impressions and feelings. No knowledge which we attain
along this path does not at the same time move the heart in
the most living way, so that a clear distinction should be
made between an idea logical, intellectual and a spiritual
knowledge.
The occultist
does not mean to touch your feelings, and to tell you all
manner of beautiful things. He simply relates the facts of
the spiritual world and he would consider it as shameless to
appeal to your feelings in a direct way. But he knows that
when he tells you the truths of the spiritual world, these
truths themselves speak; these spiritual facts should stir
your feelings. A Rosicrucian therefore never takes into
consideration the person of a teacher, for the teaching is in
no way connected with the person. The teacher is the
instrument through which the truths themselves speak to men.
Those who still believe or have “views of their
own” are not fit to be occult teachers. For if we judge
through feeling, instead of judging objectively, we might
even say that twice two is five!
This shows you
how the Rosicrucian gradually penetrates into the knowledge
of the higher worlds by developing various things within him.
He needs guidance in this, but all those who earnestly seek
this guidance will find it at the right moment.
We cannot say,
however, that the Rosicrucian successively passes through
these seven stages of training under the personal guidance of
a teacher. The occult teacher chooses what is more suited to
the one or to the other. I have already given you a
description of the preparatory stages. Let me now emphasize
two things in in this preparation, in order to show you that
other things must be developed before proceeding to the
stricter exercises.
There is one
thing which must be practiced from the very outset, and that
is concentration, concentration of thought. Consider how your
thoughts ramble about from morning to night! They came from
this or from that direction and draw you along with them, A
rosicrucian pupil must choose a time in which he is master of
his thoughts; he should take an object as uninteresting as
possible and reflect over it. The length of time employed for
this does not matter, essential are energy, patience, and
perseverance.
The other thing
is what we call “positivity”, which consists in
going in search of things in life which are characterised
best of all by a Persian legend relating to Christ Jesus.
One day, when
Christ Jesus was walking along with his disciples, they found
on the road's edge the carcass of a dog, in advance stage of
decomposition. The disciples who were not so highly developed
as Christ Jesus, turned away from this horrid sight, but
Christ Jesus thoughtfully looked upon the animal and said:
“What beautiful teeth it has!”
No matter how
ugly a thing may be, there is always some beauty concealed in
it; in every lie there is a grain of truth, in everything
evil a grain of goodness. This does not mean, of course, that
you should abstain from criticism! You misunderstand
positivity if you think that you should no longer find
anything bad, ugly, etc., but positivity means that you
should see the grain of beauty in everything evil. This
develops the higher forces of your soul. All this forms part
of the preparation.
To begin with,
I wished to give you some idea of the Christian-Gnostic path
of training. In the Rosicrucian schooling you will find the
deepest and most genuine Christianity. If you are a
Rosicrucian, you can be a Christian in the deepest meaning of
the word, in spite of the demands of modern life. In the
past, one could be a good Christian by withdrawing from the
world; this was possible so long as man was not influenced by
those forms of thinking which now render it so difficult for
him to be a Christian. For the thoughts which have developed
out of the natural-scientific way of thinking render it
difficult for us to take in Christianity in its original
form. The noblest men are those who honestly say:
“To-day I cannot connect anything real with Christianity”.
The spiritual
world indeed lives round about us, but within us live the
thoughts produced by our materialistic age. We are
incessantly surrounded by these thought-forms of
materialistic life. A conscientious person must therefore
say: In the present time we need a remedy which can cope with
the ideas that continually stream into us, a remedy which
enables us to hold our own and to remain upright in the face
of everything which streams into us from the world
outside.
Spiritual
science offers us this remedy. We are egoists if we reject
it, if we refuse to take it. Spiritual science feels that it
is the executor of that which also constituted the will of
medieval theosophy. Everyone can understand spiritual
science; even-those who are acquainted with the justified
objections raised against it by natural science. The
Rosicrucian direction of theosophy enables everyone to find
that which leads to a knowledge of the universe, and to peace
within the soul, to be sure, a steady attitude in life. The
theosophy of Rosicrucianism is not a merely theoretical
knowledge which can give rise to polemical discussions, but a
living knowledge which must flow into our whole modern
civilisation. Theosophists who have passed through the
Rosicrucian schooling know every objection which can be
raised against spiritual science and are well acquainted with
every counter-argument.
A polemical
treatment of theosophy would produce the same result as, for
instance, the polemical treatment of Eduard von Hartmann's.
“Philosophy of the Unconscious”.
Eduard von
Hartmann published this book and made certain statements in
it which appeared like a higher standpoint in the face of the
materialistic views of natural-scientific research. All the
scientists rose up in arms against hin and a flood of
criticism was poured over the
“Philosophy of the Unconscious”.
Eduard von Hartmann was called “the
greatest amateur”. Among the many writings which
appeared against this book, there was an anonymous pamphlet
which brilliantly opposed the
“Philosophy of the Unconscious”,
drawing in every possible argument
available to a scientist who has a thorough knowledge of the
natural sciences of his time. This writing was greatly
admired and applauded. Oscar Schmidt, the famous zoologist,
said for instance: “What a pity that we do not know the
author of this excellent pamphlet, for he stands at the very
summit of modern science.” And Ernst Haeckel wrote:
“Let him come out of his anonymity, and we shall
welcome him as one of us.” In fact, this pamphlet
created quite a sensation! Then a second edition appeared,
with the name of the author: Eduard von Hartmann! Now the
scientists did not say a word and the matter was hushed up.
This really took place.
You see those
who adopt a higher standpoint, are themselves able to advance
counter-arguments, for they only need to descend to another
standpoint. We might also bring forward a few
counter-arguments; if we had sufficient time at our disposal.
[Note 4]
But in the brief time available it was essential above all to
communicate some of the facts which spiritual science can proclaim
to-day concerning the higher worlds.
The chief point
to bear in mind is that spiritual scientific truths should
exercise a healing influence upon men. Occult science can
show that these truths are able to permeate every sphere of
human life and to fructify it. And when spiritual science
will have exercised this healing, fructifying influence it
will have justified its existence in the best possible way.
This, is the proof which spiritual science seeks.
Theosophists therefore do not grow alarmed when people come
and say: “This is pure fantasy!” Everything which
has become a blessing in human civilisation has at first been
regarded as pure fantasy. In the history of the last forties
of the 19th century; we could cite many examples in support
of this statement.
If spiritual
science is to become a reality in life, it must penetrate
into that which constitutes our ordinary environment. When
spiritual science has become a force which gives wings to our
whole life, permeating our daily actions, it will have stood
the test. This is the standpoint adopted by the Theosophy of
Rosicrucianism, and from this standpoint you should view the
lectures which I have delivered to you. Spiritual science
will one day develop into something which will influence
humanity and bring new impulses in art and science, in
medicine and education. Its forces will stream into every
sphere of life, animating it.
This is the
standpoint of these lectures, which should be accepted in
this light.
Notes:
Note 1. See:
“The Path of Knowledge and its Stages.
The Rosicrucian Path”
“Imaginative Knowledge and Artistic Imagination”
Note 2. See:
The Xmas Thought and the Mystery of the Ego.
The Tree of the Cross and the Golden Legend.
Also:
The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge.
The Mysteries of Art
(Paths of Spiritual Knowledge and the Renewal of an
World-Conception).
Note 3. See: Rudolf Steiner's
Five Easters
by Anasthasius Grün.
Note 4. See:
Wie widerlegt man Geistesforschung
(How does one oppose Spiritual Research) and
Wie begrandet man Goistesforschung
(What is the Foundation of Spiritual Research),
double volume no. 1/2 of the series
Ergebnisse der Geistesforschung
(Results of Spiritual Research), Lectures by Rudolf Steiner,
publd. by
Phil. Anthropl. Verlag in Dornach, Switznrland.
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