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Rudolf Steiner e.Lib
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Descriptive Sketches of the Spiritual World
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib Document
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Descriptive Sketches of the Spiritual World
Schmidt Number: S-2827
On-line since: 15th March, 2004
This lecture specially refers to investigations into former
earth-lives.
When people gradually become interested in the various branches of
anthroposophical knowledge, there are many points regarding which they
are quite justified in wishing for further information. Let us,
therefore, spend part of our time today in asking ourselves questions
which might thus arise. In answering such questions one is often
obliged to go more deeply into the connection of cosmic facts in so
far as the spiritual world affects these facts, and particularly into
the connection between these facts and the nature of man. One question
may arise in a person's mind when he gradually sees the importance and
great significance of what we call reincarnation. He may ask:
How is it that in his ordinary life today man has no
recollection of preceding earth-lives? Clairvoyant consciousness
can actually expand the memory to such an extent that recollections of
former earth-lives rise to its surface; but in the ordinary life of
present-day humanity this does not occur. If the question is put from
the standpoint of clairvoyant investigation, however, it takes the
following form. It is then realized that the force required for
clairvoyant investigation arises from the innermost part of man, from
the very soul itself. One must develop from the ordinary human
standpoint to the clairvoyant standpoint.
The forces by means of which we look back later at our former
earth-lives must naturally exist in every human being. The question,
therefore, is: What becomes of these forces? What does man's
nature do with these forces which are present in him, which are born
with him, but which he cannot bring to the point of helping him to a
retrospective memory of his former earth-life? If we investigate
this clairvoyantly we find ourselves obliged to look for them in very
early childhood. There only do we find those forces at work which can
be used in clairvoyance for the retrospective vision of former lives.
In present-day man they are used to construct the human larynx and all
that appertains to it; and especially in all which enables that organ
to be used later for speech These forces are in every man, for the
purpose of enabling him to look back into earlier earth-lives. But at
the present day they are so largely used in constructing man's organ
of speech that, under normal circumstances, he cannot in later life
have that memory of the past. There were earlier times when man had
this retrospective memory and this was the case almost all over the
world, but this was because the said forces were not all used in
building up the larynx; some were kept back. The development of
humanity was such, however, that speech gradually assumed a form which
in our present cycle depends more upon the forces of the etheric body
than was formerly the case. At the present time, therefore, man fails
to observe the forces which remain behind after the greater proportion
have been used in building the larynx. If he were to do so, as the
clairvoyant must, he would be able to look at his earlier earth-lives.
That is the reason for the fact which I indicated in the public
lecture: If a man gets so far as to develop that activity of the
etheric body which is otherwise only developed for the need of the
organ of speech, and releases that from the larynx; if he is gradually
able to listen inwardly without speaking, and to develop this feeling
more and more, the exercise of that force can really reproduce the
memory of past lives. Modern man pays no attention to the surplus
forces of his speech-organ which are capable of being used for the
retrospect into earlier earth-lives. This is one of those cases in
which through clairvoyant investigation one can indicate the place
occupied in normal life by those forces which are otherwise used to
enable man to have insight into the spiritual life.
This applies also to the forces used by man today in the creation of
the so-called grey brain-substance, which principally constitutes the
organ of thought. Thinking is, of course, not actually accomplished by
the brain; but we need the brain as an instrument of thought. And
those thought-forces which, if they were wholly at his disposal, would
enable man to grasp with ease what is to be found in my Occult
Science, are used by the normal man for the construction of his
grey brain-substance. This grey brain-matter was by no means so highly
organised in the humanity of ancient Greece in the fifth or sixth
century as it is in the average man today. In this respect the nature
of man alters much more quickly than is supposed. Thus to the Greeks
of the prehistoric times, of the 10th, 11th, and 12th centuries B.C.,
it was quite natural that, at a certain time of life, all that is now
again being given out by Spiritual Science should appear to him
clairvoyantly. We must, therefore, use those forces which still remain
to us after having constructed our grey brain-substance, in
endeavouring, in the manner prescribed, to acquire a clear idea of
what is described in Occult Science. What is the reason that
these things are so described in that book? The descriptions given
therein are not too difficult for the man of today to understand; one
might almost say that it is a wonder that many people have not of
their own accord attained knowledge of them. One might wonder that
these descriptions meet with so much antagonism, for it really is not
difficult, comparatively speaking, to attain the necessary degree of
clairvoyance wherewith to observe them. All one need do is the
following: although the saying in Faust may well be applied
here: True 'tis easy; yet what seems easy is still
difficult! The development of the brain is most actively carried
on during the early years of human life. Clairvoyantly one sees the
etheric and astral bodies actively at work then in constructing and
forming the brain. This work lasts for a comparatively long time. It
is not too much to say that, although in later years this work
proceeds more slowly, yet man becomes cleverer and cleverer through
the experience of his life, and work is always going on in his
brain-substance. The following is, however, not observed, nor can it
be.
If at a definite age man decides to discontinue for a while a mental
occupation dear to him (this applies to external matters, because
through them the grey brain-substance is moulded, but, of course, one
can always study Anthroposophy as long as one does not study it like
any other science) if a man decides to cease studying something
which has been his favourite pursuit for many years and strictly
compels himself to leave it off, and then in quiet meditation tries to
arouse the forces economised in this way which forces would
have been spent in the continued activity, but can now be used
otherwise it will be comparatively easy to attain, at any rate,
a high degree of self-knowledge of the things described in my
Occult Science. The reason that so few people do so is that
this is very seldom carried out; for a man who really has an
occupation to which he is devoted will seldom have the power of
self-denial deliberately to give it up for seven whole years. You see,
then, that part of what is now being given out might be acquired with
comparative ease.
If you consider our modern civilization with all its amazing external
activities, you cannot wonder that a large amount of the forces
belonging to the etheric body has to be employed in the working of
man's brain; for, indeed, almost all external culture is the result of
the working of the human brain. All the forces are used in working the
brain. Many might say: Well, I have taken no part in this work;
I have nothing to do with it! A man might really deceive himself
in this respect, for that is not the case. It is hardly possible to
find a spot on earth, however isolated, where external civilisation
does not so far penetrate as to compel one to take part in it with
one's thoughts, and that will suffice to divert our forces from what
we might call the acquisition of clairvoyant consciousness. Of course,
someone might say: Well, but savages take no part in what thus
works in the brain, yet one cannot say that the savages develop any
special clairvoyant forces in this direction! That is because of
the ruling of a very special spiritual law, which ordains that what
may be thus acquired clairvoyantly must have been prepared in a
particular way. The savage might perhaps develop completely different
clairvoyant forces, but the forces required to see what is described
in my Occult Science could not be developed by him, because he
has not been prepared for them, for these forces must be the
transmutation of other forces.
You may perhaps say: Well, but many people have never had what
you call a favourite occupation. Why, then, have they not become
clairvoyant? The reason is that the development of the
clairvoyant forces does not come out of the void, but from the
transmutation of what already exists. One must have already developed
one's forces in a certain direction, and have acquired the tendency to
the particular intelligence which belongs to our modern civilisation.
If, then, one renounces the using of these forces for a time, they
become, in a sense, transmuted; and one is thereby enabled to follow
clairvoyantly the facts Described in Occult Science; for in so
doing the same forces are employed which in man's normal development
enable him to use the higher forces of the brain. On the other hand,
the transmutation of other human forces and faculties lead, not to the
great universal viewpoints described in Occult Science, but
rather to separate detailed circumstances. For instance, one may
acquire the power of looking back into earlier earth-lives by holding
back in the same way certain forces otherwise used in forming the
organs of speech. Certain forces, which as a rule are not noticed,
tend more than all the rest to hinder man from pressing on into the
spiritual worlds.
I have now mentioned two kinds of forces which enable man to see into
the spiritual worlds: namely, those which are used today in the
forming of the grey brain-substance which enables man to see into the
spiritual worlds, and those concerned with the formation of speech,
which enable him to look back into his former earth-lives. But besides
these there are others more adapted to enable man to see in detail
what the individual human soul does there; this is described in
general in Occult Science, but that is quite different from
really seeing into the spiritual world, which necessitates quite other
forces, forces hardly noticed during life. There is one thing in life
for which man must use many forces, and that is the acquiring of the
power of standing upright in early childhood, instead of going about
on all fours all his life long. The forces which enable man to assume
a vertical position are of such a nature that one who has penetrated
into the spiritual world is filled with special reverence for them. To
behold how a child learns to walk is a wonderful mystery, as seen by
one who undertakes spiritual investigation. From the forces used in
childhood when learning to stand upright there remain those which
enable us to look into the world between death and a new birth, but
these are too little observed. If we can get so far as to remember how
we learnt to walk and the efforts we made, we can discover in
ourselves the forces we saved up in our etheric body, for that body
had especially to exert itself. (There are other methods of
discovering these forces, but this is one way.) If we can discover in
ourselves the forces we then saved which still exist in us all
we can thus bring to the surface much which enables us to go
back into the life spent between our last death and our last birth.
You may ask: How is this done? If we have the good fortune to be able
to carry on our Anthroposophical Movement, we shall have made a start
towards bringing out these forces. If all goes well, these usually
begin to stir after a period of seven years. A beginning has now been
made, and this will work on in the nature of man; but as a rule they
are unnoticed.
We can generally promote the discovery of these forces in ourselves by
practising a certain kind of natural dancing. Not quite a year ago, in
certain circles, the movements of the etheric body began to be studied
according to certain basic rules, and this art we call Eurhythmy. This
does not merely lead to nothing particular, like ordinary dancing, but
movements are practised which are in complete accord with the
movements of the etheric body. Through practising these movements we
become gradually aware of the forces that still remain in that body,
and which are brought to light by the free dance movements. In this
way means are gradually created by which we can really perceive the
undiscovered forces in man which can awaken in him an insight into the
spiritual worlds in which he lived between his last death and his
birth. In such ways Anthroposophy can really work practically upon
human culture. You may be sure that it will not stop at merely
teaching a few abstract truths, for it will influence mankind in such
a way that it will learn that the forces slumbering today can be
aroused, and that man can really raise himself to a realisation of
spiritual life. These are curious things, but they must be said, for
they are true.
When a man discovers the forces that remain over from his learning to
walk, they will enable him to become clairvoyant, and to see into the
worlds we inhabit between death and a new birth. This can also be done
through meditation, which must, however, be carried so far as to merge
into feeling; but feeling is the hardest of all things to acquire
through meditation.
Those forces must be found which enable a man to look into the world
between death and rebirth, forces by means of which he can contemplate
what happened a long time before birth. In this domain there is a
great deal which enables one to understand life as never before.
For instance, suppose we meet with misfortune; at first we only have
the feeling that it is, indeed, a misfortune, one we find difficult to
bear. But if we know why it is that this misfortune has come upon us,
by reason of our having ourselves arranged, some decades or even some
centuries before our birth, that it should be so, we shall find it
easier to bear. We shall know that it was a trial, a means of
making us more perfect. Other things, too, are experienced when we are
able to look back at that portion of the spiritual worlds in which we
undergo the preparation for our present life. I will not now describe
the general conditions there; you will find these in my books. But I
should like to show, by means of a few examples, how life before birth
influences the subsequent life.
Strange as it may sound, w hen we have passed the middle of our
prenatal life which generally lasts several hundreds of years
the inner experience of the soul is chiefly centred on the
earth; and when we turn back to that time, the impression We get is
full of what was going on in the earth below, and what the human
beings on earth thought and felt. Every soul receives impressions
peculiar to itself. For instance, a soul may live back into the second
half of the spiritual life, when rebirth was drawing near, and see
himself looking down more and more on those below, the spiritually
active one, preparing for a future age. Some of these may seem to the
soul above specially to be admired; indeed, it may occur that the soul
above fixes his attention particularly on one or two figures active on
the earth below
Suppose a man was born in the second half of the nineteenth century
and was therefore in the spiritual worlds at the beginning of that
century and end of the preceding one. From thence he looked down at
the important persons who influenced our civilization during that
time. Among these are a few whom he particularly admired and who were
dear to him; for it is one of our experiences thus to look down at the
persons developing here. In so doing we actually influence them, not
in such a way that we actually interfere with their freedom, but
rather so that a feeling arises in their soul that they are being
gazed upon by someone in the spiritual world. Thus human beings on
earth are stimulated to be active and creative by the souls who are to
be born later than they and who are now looking down at them. This may
occur in intimate as well as wider matters.
I know a case of a soul, living in the spiritual world at the end of
the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, who took as
his ideal a prominent personage on earth and resolved after his birth
to imitate him. One can see clairvoyantly the books written by the
person he wished to imitate, as he looked down with a certain
yearning, a certain inner longing, from heaven to earth; and, though
of course with a somewhat different feeling, one looks back as a
living being to the other side, to the Heavens. There is, however,
this very considerable difference between the two experiences. The
vision of the earth-dweller looking up to Heaven, without having any
knowledge of Spiritual Science, is apt to remain more or less
indistinct; whereas the soul living in the spiritual world can see
earth-conditions very clearly, he sees the human soul whom he admires
so much and the books he wishes so much to read, with great
distinctness. In short, in the second half of the spiritual existence
between death and s new birth one may become acquainted with a human
soul, even down to minute details, for one can gaze into that soul. We
ourselves in our present life can become aware that, living above in
the spiritual world, there are souls expecting to be born in the next
decade or so who are looking into our own souls with longing eyes; for
they see there what they need for their preparation for the
earth-world, At this period of their spiritual lives they see our
souls with great clearness, even as the earth-man on his part sees his
Heaven with great indistinctness. This is merely a picture, but it
will serve to show how, if we have only a slight knowledge of the
spiritual world, we can really become aware that we are being
observed, as indeed we are, in manifold ways. The gaze of the
spiritual beings, and more particularly of those shortly to be
incarnated, is turned upon our souls. We see by this that Spiritual
Science cannot but do good, for it tends to make people more worthy of
those in the spiritual worlds who as yet are not born. When
clairvoyant investigation examines all this it certainly experiences
remarkable and often staggering things, and amongst the most
surprising of these is the vision of the souls on the way to birth,
gazing down to earth and looking for those who may become their
parents. In olden times this was even more remarkable than now, but
the observation of such souls is still one of the most impressive
experiences, and one carries away a wealth of impressions. I will
describe one of these at first hand!
A soul preparing for incarnation knows that he will need for his next
incarnation a particular sort of knowledge, which must be acquired in
early youth; looking down he sees possibilities, here and there, of
gaining it. It may occur, however, that in order to do so he must
renounce the particular parents who, in other respects, could give him
the happiest of lives, and finds himself obliged to take his natal
flight to other parents, who cannot make his life happy. If he were to
select the other father and mother, he would not be able to gain the
most important experiences. We must not imagine that all the
conditions of the spiritual life differ absolutely from our own. For
instance, a soul who, before his birth, was thus dreadfully torn in
his mind and undecided, may say to himself: Perhaps I shall be
dreadfully mismanaged in childhood by rough and rude parents.
Should this doubt exist, it sets up a dreadful conflict within him.
One sees many a soul in the spiritual world having this to go through
when preparing for birth. We must realise that souls are faced with
these struggles with themselves in the spiritual world, and that such
difficulties serve in a sense as a sort of external world to them.
What I am now describing is not only an inner soul-conflict, not only
a battle of the inner feelings, but it is projected externally, and
is, so to speak, all around one. One can see in visible imagery the
imaginations depicting how such souls go down to their new
incarnations, inwardly divided as it were. When we see all these
circumstances unfolded before our eyes we can well understand why so
many people do not like Spiritual Science; for most people prefer to
believe that as soon as they die they enter eternal bliss for all
eternity! This, however, is not the case, and it is well that things
are as they are, for under existing circumstances the world will
eventually reach its destined stage of perfection.
The power of investigating one's own life, or that of another, in the
spiritual world, can be acquired curiously enough
through the forces left over in the etheric body from our learning to
walk. Practical clairvoyance shows us that these forces, when really
developed, have certain advantages over the clairvoyant forces
developed for the purpose of looking back into former lives. I want
you to pay particular attention to this difference between them, for
it may throw light in many respects on various things. There is no way
in which a dangerous clairvoyance is more easily developed than by
using the forces which exist in present-day man for developing the
organs of speech, and which, if kept back, enable him to see into his
former earth-lives; for they are mostly connected with the lower
instincts and passions in man's nature. In no other way is one brought
so near to Lucifer and Ahriman as by developing these forces, for
although they certainly lead one to the height of being able to look
back into one's own and other people's past lives, yet they lead to
the powers of illusion; and if not rightly developed the clairvoyant
may, under their influence, fall morally low, rather than rise to the
heights. Thus these forces are among the most dangerous of all, and
should only be developed if at the same time the teacher is determined
to develop the purest morality in his pupils. For this reason an
experienced teacher will not easily allow himself to be persuaded
systematically to develop the forces which enable a man to see former
incarnations. It is just as rare to find the forces developed
objectively, in the right way, i.e. by only using the speech-forces
for this purpose, as it is common to find a certain lower clairvoyance
which can see into the spiritual worlds and give descriptions of
certain spiritual regions. That is why other means are generally used
when it is desired to lead persons to see their earlier incarnations,
and here we reach an interesting point showing how necessary it
is to pay attention to things which are generally disregarded. It is
but seldom that anyone is able through his spiritual teaching to look
back at his earlier earth-lives by developing the speech-forces only;
that is a very rare occurrence, yet there are many persons at the
present time who can do so. This has generally been reached by other
means, one of which may strike one as strange, but it rests upon a
profound truth. Suppose that a man is well advanced in years; it would
need too much of an effort, and perhaps lead to too much temptation,
were he to look back karmically at his former lives by developing the
speech-forces. Therefore the spiritual forces have recourse to another
means, which many suppose to be merely accidental. He may meet a man
who calls him by a special name, or mentions a certain time, or a
certain people. This works externally upon his soul in such a way that
as a result he may develop the necessary forces to serve as a support
for clairvoyance etc. will then notice that the name he was called by,
or the words mentioned, will, without any knowledge of this on the
part of the speaker, lead to a retrospective view of his past lives.
This is a case of outer means being resorted to. The man in question
hears a name or an era or a nation mentioned, and is thereby
stimulated from outside, as it were, to see his former earth
incarnations. Such external stimuli are sometimes of' great importance
to a clairvoyant observation of the world. One has what seems to be an
entirely accidental experience, but from this rays forth a stimulus
for clairvoyant forces which one otherwise possesses only in
rudimentary form.
These are a few aphoristic indications which I wished to give you as
to the way the spiritual world interpenetrates the earth-world; it is
really a very complicated matter. We see, therefore, that looking back
into former earth lives is a more or less dangerous proceeding,
because the forces of temptation are connected with it; but, on the
other hand, there are very few men who, having developed their
clairvoyant forces for, the purpose of seeing the life spent in the
spiritual world before birth, would be liable to the temptation of
misusing them. As a rule only souls of a certain purity, of a certain
natural morality, can look back with a measure of certainty into the
life spent in the spirit before their present earth-lives. That is
because the forces used as clairvoyant forces for the purpose of
looking into the prenatal time are the child-forces, those economised
when learning to walk. They are the most sinless forces in the nature
of man. These innocent forces I beg some of you to note this
are also those through which, when a man develops them, he is
able to see into the life preceding his birth. This, too, is the
reason why a little child is so enchanting and satisfying because it
is surrounded in its aura by the forces the greater part of which are
used in learning to walk forces which are also able to
illuminate what took place before birth. In this respect to the
clairvoyant experience a child in whose countenance is expressed
innocence and inexperience of the world expresses in its aura
something a great deal more interesting than what can be seen in the
aura of many a grown-up person. The struggles and conflicts it went
through in the spirit-land before birth, and which determined its
destiny, make what surrounds the child as its aura something
immeasurably great and filled with wisdom. That wisdom is often much
greater than a human being can put into words in later life. The
countenance of the child may as yet be undefined, but the clairvoyant
who sees it can learn immeasurably from the child if his vision is
able to perceive what surrounds it as aura. And if the forces
belonging to childhood are later on developed clairvoyantly one can
perceive the concrete circumstances which precede human birth. It may
perhaps be a personal satisfaction to be able to look into that world,
but it is more particularly of interest to one who is anxious to
understand the whole connection. A search into the Akashic Records
concerning certain personalities of the world's history not only
consists in reading what is therein inscribed about their lives on the
physical plane, but also shows us how they are preparing their next
lives on that plane, while living as souls in the spiritual world
between death and rebirth.
Now the forces which can throw light on former incarnations, if we
keep them pure, are not so much saved over from childhood as from that
age in a human being when the passions (and often the lowest and
worst) are developed. These forces which have quite different tasks in
the nature of man are developed long after those connected with
speech-formation. They hang together with all that develops in man as
feelings of sensual love and everything connected with it. There is a
special relation between all that leads to sensual love and all that
leads to speech; and this is, indeed, expressed in the nature of man
in the breaking of the voice, the change of voice. From that age in
particular many of these forces are stored up, and if we keep them
pure they lead to a retrospective vision of our former earth-lives;
but if they are not kept pure they can be brought out as the sensual
instincts of man, and may then lead to the greatest occult depravity.
These clairvoyant forces, economised from that particular time of
life, are the most subject to temptation.
Thus you understand the whole connection, my dear friends. The
clairvoyant who is willing to talk about the time spent between death
and a new birth (and some of you may have noticed that there is but
little talk about that), has developed in himself the forces
economised from early childhood. But one should mistrust the
clairvoyant who talks a great deal mostly nonsense about
people's former incarnations, and this happens very frequently, for
some people dish up such information on a salver as it were. We should
mistrust such persons, because in this domain forces may be drawn upon
which are most of all open to temptation. The forces that may be
economised for this are saved from the time when sensual love
develops, while man does not yet stand outwardly in social life.
Sometimes these forces lead to great nonsense, and particularly to
occult nonsense, because these, more than any others, are subject to
delusion after delusion in the realms of the spiritual world.
Why, then, is the information of clairvoyants who are subject to these
particular forces so frequently unreliable? Because among these arise
at the same time out of man, like a mist, the lower instincts and
impulses; and then Ahriman and his Ahrimanic spirits approach, and out
of what thus arises they form phantoms which can be seen, and are then
regarded as belonging to former incarnations.
The right sort of clairvoyance through which to describe circumstances
such as are given in Occult Science can be easily developed by
economising the forces which can only be economised in later life
after the age of twenty to twenty-five. The forces developed
then are usually such as are connected with the life of the intellect,
and during this time life can be regarded with a certain calm common
sense. Thus the investigations in this domain are least of all subject
to error and illusion.
We see, therefore, that the great world-relations, the great spiritual
world-relationships, can be ascertained through those forces in human
nature which work at the development of the brain.
The vision of former earth-lives can be acquired by cultivating those
forces which are economised in youth, when they are no longer required
for developing the speech and rule the realm of sense desires and
their organs.
The spirit-land proper, which is specially interesting because there
the new life is being prepared, can be investigated through those
forces which can be economised in earliest childhood, when the child
is learning to walk.
The above are, indeed, remarkable facts, but if we wish to penetrate
the spiritual world we must accustom ourselves to accept many new
conceptions which at first must appear paradoxical. But the spiritual
world does not exist simply to present a continuation of the physical
sense-world indeed, in many respects it is exact opposite of
the latter. Man himself appears as a very important being in the
universe when we look on the one side at all he goes through in his
earth-life, his destiny, his capacities, and his activities. On the
other hand, through having learnt to understand the spiritual, we see
the very different life lived by him between death and a new birth.
Then only do we contemplate man in his full significance and destiny.
In these two lectures I wished to give you an idea, a description of
various things in the spiritual world. I wanted to do so in a more
aphoristic way, because we have met here for the first time, and
because you will know most of the systematic presentations from my
books and writings, and I wished to add a little here and there to
what I have already given out. It seemed to me that this would be more
useful to our friends in this town than if I had selected a more
connected chapter of Spiritual Science. If you will allow me to say
so, at the conclusion of, to me, such a happy union here, I should
like as much as possible of Spiritual Science to flow into the hearts
and souls of men at the present time. This is important for two
reasons.
First, because when we consider the life around us and observe the
facts of that life, and how, even through the greatest acquirements of
culture man becomes more and more materialistically minded, we see how
more and more necessary it is that he shouldst have Spiritual Science,
how much he needs it, just because this outer life makes him so
materialistic. Just because the great facts of external life must make
man materialistic, he needs the counterbalancing of Spiritual Science.
It is a necessity in the earth-life of humanity, and must become more
and more so in the near future. Anyone who reflects how, even through
the greatest achievements of civilisation, external life must
gradually descend deeper and deeper into materialism and gradually
decay and die out, will feel the longing within him to see Spiritual
Science entering the hearts and souls of mankind. Our civilisation
must become greater and greater and make more progress; but although
we need our railways and steamboats, telephones, airships, and all
that civilisation can bring us, yet, just as the singing-birds are
driven away by our smoky chimneys, so will the joy and freshness and
harmony of our soul-life disappear under the influence of this
material culture, unless Spiritual Science leads man to spirituality.
Therefore he who is able to see the circumstances clearly must have
the deepest longing to make Spiritual Science more widely known: it is
a necessity.
On the other hand, there is another fact, namely, that on account of
this materialistic culture, never has mankind rejected Spiritual
Science so strongly, nor hated it so much, as today.
Today we are confronted by these two unavoidable facts, Necessity and
Misunderstanding they face us like two pillars between which we
have to pass, if we wish to bring Spiritual Science into the world.
For us, who wish to make our souls ripe for Spiritual Science, there
will be on each pillar a challenge, a stern request to do
everything in our power which will bring ourselves and all those
persons who long for it, to Spiritual Science.
I wished to address you from this standpoint the first time I spoke in
this town, and from this same standpoint I wish to say my parting
words; so that something of what I have been allowed to say may pass
into your hearts and souls and not only into your minds. You may
thereby feel yourselves more closely united with us and with all those
who would like to carry this movement out into the world more actively
than they have hitherto done.
As we cannot remain together in space as we have just been for
the first time I should like to feel that this visit will draw
our souls together more closely than before. With this wish, my dear
friends, I take my leave of you and your beautiful town; in the full
consciousness that when such a meeting has taken place our union in
space has given a stimulus to a union which depends on neither space
nor time. With these words I give you greeting and take my leave of
you. May the fact of our having been thus together in space provide a
stimulus for a permanent, enduring union in the spirit.
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Last Modified: 23-Nov-2024
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