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Rudolf Steiner e.Lib
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The Mission of the Archangel Michael
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib Document
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The Mission of the Archangel Michael
Schmidt Number: S-3908
On-line since: 23rd November, 2003
The Mission of Michael, the Revelation of the Secrets of Man's Being
Six Lectures of Rudolf Steiner
Delivered at Dornach, November 21-30, 1919
The Power and Mission of Michael, Necessity of the Revaluation of Many Values
IN THIS course of lectures I should like to describe the relationship
which we, human beings of the present day, may gain to that spiritual
power which, as the power of Michael, intervenes in the spiritual and
physical events of the earth. It will be necessary to prepare
ourselves in today's lecture for this task. We shall need various
points of view which will enable human intelligence really to present
the various interferences with the just designated power on the
background of the symptoms which we may observe in our surroundings.
We must keep in mind, if we wish to speak seriously of the spiritual
world, that we always may look upon the manifestations of the
spiritual powers here in the physical world. We try to penetrate as it
were, through the veil of the physical world to that which is active
in the spiritual world. What exists in the physical world may be
observed by everyone; what is active in the spiritual world serves to
solve the riddles posed by the physical world. But we must sense the
riddles of physical life in the right way. It is important, in
connection with these weighty matters, to comprehend in full
seriousness what I have said in recent lectures. {See Rudolf Steiner,
Pneumatosophy: The Riddle of the Inner Human Being.
Anthroposophic Press, New York.} It is impossible to link personal
world views to a real understanding of that which so vitally concerns
not only the whole of humanity, but the whole world. We must free
ourselves from merely personal interests. Moreover, we will gain an
understanding for the purpose and value of personality in the world if
we have freed ourselves from the personal element in its narrower
sense.
Now you know that our Earth evolution was preceded by another;
that we stand within a cosmic evolution. First, you know that this
evolution progresses, that it has arrived at a point beyond which it
will pass to further, more advanced stages. Secondly, you know that if
we consider the world as such, we have to deal not only with the
beings which we meet in the earthly sphere, that is, in the mineral,
plant, animal, and human kingdoms, but that we have to deal with
beings belonging to higher realms which we have designated as the
beings of the higher hierarchies. If we speak of evolution in
its entirety, we have always to consider these beings of the higher
hierarchies.
These beings, on their part, also pass through an evolution which we
can understand if we find analogies to our own human evolution and to
the one which exists in the various kingdoms of the earth. Consider,
for example, the following: You know that we human beings have passed
through a Saturn, Sun and Moon evolution, we may say
that we as human beings who experience ourselves in earthly
surroundings have arrived at the fourth stage of our evolution.
Let us now consider the beings directly above our human stage whom we
call the Angeloi, the Angels. If we merely wish to show an analogy we
may say: these beings, although their form is entirely different from
the human, and although they are invisible to physical human senses,
are at the evolutionary stage of Jupiter.
Let us now turn to the Archangeloi, the Archangels. They are at the
evolutionary stage which mankind will have reached upon Venus. And if
we turn to the Archai, the time spirits, to the beings who especially
influence our earthly evolution, we find that they have already
attained the evolution of Vulcan.
Now the significant question arises: If we turn to the beings still
higher in rank, to the hierarchy of the so-called Spirits of
Form, on what stage do we find them? We must answer: They have
already passed beyond the stages which we human beings conceive of as
our evolutionary stages of the future. They have already passed beyond
the Vulcan evolution. If we consider our own evolution as
consisting of seven stages, which suffices for our present
considerations, we must say that the Spiritsof Form have reached the
eighth stage. We human beings are at the fourth stage of evolution; if
we consider the eighth stage we find the Form Spirits.
Now we must not conceive of these successive stages of evolution as
existing side by side, but we must conceive of them as
interpenetrating one another. Just as the atmosphere surrounds and
permeates the earth, so this eighth sphere of evolution to which
the Form Spirits belong permeates the sphere in which we human beings
live. Let us now carefully consider these two stages of evolution.
Let us repeat: We human beings exist in a sphere which has reached the
fourth evolutionary stage. Yet we also exist, if we disregard
everything else, in the realm which the Form Spirits, around us and
through us, have to regard as theirs. Let us now consider human
evolution concretely. We have often distinguished the development of
the head from that of the human being. The latter we have again
divided into two separate parts, the development of the breast and the
development of the limbs. Let us disregard this latter differentiation
and consider man as having, on the one hand, that which belongs to the
development of the head and, on the other, everything that belongs to
the rest of the human being.
Now imagine the following: You have here the surface of the ocean, the
human being wading in it, moving forward with only his head rising
about the water. In this imageof course it is only an
imageyou have the position of the present-day human being.
Everything in which the head is rooted we would have to consider as
belonging to the fourth stage of evolution, and everything in which
man moves forward, wading or swimming in it, as it were, we would have
to designate as the eighth stage of evolution. For it is a peculiar
fact that the human being has, in a certain way, outgrown as far as
his head is concerned, the element in which the Spirits of Form unfold
their particular being. In regard to his head, man has become
emancipated, so to speak, from the sphere which is interpenetrated by
the beings of the Spirits of Form.
Only by thoroughly comprehending this can we arrive at a proper
conception of the human being; only then can we understand the special
position man has in the world; only then will it become clear to us
that when the human being senses the Spirits of Form's creative
influence upon him, he does not sense this directly through the
faculties of his head, but indirectly through the effect of the rest
of his body upon the head. You all know that breathing is connected
with our blood-circulation, speaking in the sense of external
physiology. But the blood is also driven into the head, creating an
organic, vital connection of the head with the rest of the organism.
The head is nourished and invigorated by the rest of the body.
We must carefully discriminate between two things. The first is the
fact that the head is in direct connection with the external world. If
you see an object, you perceive it through your eyes; there is a
direct connection between the outer world and your head. If you,
however, observe the life of your head as it is sustained by the
processes of breathing and blood circulation, you will see the blood
shooting up from the rest of the organism into the head and you may
say there is not a direct, but only an indirect connection between
your head and the surrounding world.
Naturally, you must not say, pedantically: well, the breath is inhaled
through the mouth, therefore breathing also belongs to the head. I
have stated above that we have here only an image. Organically, what
is inhaled through the mouth does not actually belong to the head, but
to the rest of the organism.
Focus your attention upon these two fundamental concepts which we have
just gained; focus your attention upon the idea that we stand within
two spheres: the sphere which we entered by passing through the
Saturn, Sun and Moon evolution and being now within the
Earth evolution which is the fourth evolutionary stage; then
consider the fact that we live within a sphere which belongs to the
Form Spirits just as our earth belongs to us, but which, as the eighth
sphere, permeates our earth and our organism with the exception of our
head and all that is sense activity. If we focus our attention upon
these facts we have created a basis for what is to follow.
Yet let me first build a still firmer basis through certain other
concepts. If we wish to consider our life under such influences, we
must take into account the beings we have often mentioned as
cooperating in world events: the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings. Let
us, at the outset, fix our attention upon the most external aspect of
these beings. They dwell in the same spheres in which we human beings
live. Considering their most external aspect, we may think of all
Luciferic beings as possessing those forces which we feel when there
arises in us the tendency to become fantastic, when we yield
one-sidedly to fancy and over-enthusiasm, when weif I may
express it pictoriallytend to go out with our being beyond our
head. If we tend to go out beyond our head, we employ forces which
play a certain role in our human organism but which are the universal
forces of the beings we call Luciferic. Think of beings formed
entirely of those forces within us which strive to pass beyond our
head and you have the Luciferic beings which have a certain relation
to our human world.
Conversely, think of all that presses us down upon the earth, all that
makes us sober philistines, makes us bourgeois, which leads us to
develop materialistic attitudes, think of all that exists in us as dry
intellect, and you have the Ahrimanic powers.
All that I have described here from the aspect of the soul can also be
described from the aspect of the body. One can say, man is always in a
midway position between the intentions of his blood and the intentions
of his bones. The bones constantly tend to ossify us; in other words,
to ahrimanize our bodies, to harden us. The blood would
like to drive us out beyond ourselves. Expressed in pathological
terms, the blood may become feverish. Then the human being is
organically driven into phantasms. The bones may spread their nature
over the rest of the organism. Then the human being becomes ossified,
becomes sclerotic, as nearly everyone does to a certain degree in old
age. Then he carries the death-dealing element in his organism,
namely, the Ahrimanic element. We may say that everything that lives
in the blood tends toward the Luciferic, everything that lives in the
bones has the tendency toward the Ahrimanic. The human being is the
equilibrium between the two, as he, from the aspect of the soul, has
to be the equilibrium between over-enthusiastic and sober
philistinism.
Now we may characterize these two kinds of beings from a more profound
point of view. Let us observe the Luciferic beings and see what
interests they have in cosmic existence. We shall find that their
chief interest is to make the world, and above all the human world,
desert the spiritual beings whom man must regard as his true creators.
The Luciferic beings wish nothing more than to make the world desert
the divine beings. Do not misunderstand me: it is not the prime
intention of the Luciferic beings to appropriate the world to
themselves. From various things I have said about them you can gather
that this is not their chief intention; their chief aim is to make the
human being forsake his own divine creator-beings, to liberate the
world from these beings.
The Ahrimanic beings have a different aim. They have the decided
intention to make the kingdom of man and the rest of the earth,
subject to their sphere of power, to make mankind dependent upon them,
to get control over human beings. While it always has beenand is
nowthe endeavor of the Luciferic beings to make human beings
desert what they can feel as the Divine in themselves, the Ahrimanic
beings have the tendency gradually to include mankind and everything
connected with it in their sphere of power.
Thus, within our cosmos, into which we human beings are interwoven,
there exists a battle between the Luciferic beings, constantly
striving for freedom, universal freedom, and the Ahrimanic beings,
constantly striving for everlasting power and might. This battle
permeates everything in which we live. Please hold this fact in mind
as the second idea, important to our further considerations. The world
in which we live is permeated by Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings, and
there exists this tremendous contrast between the liberating tendency
of the Luciferic beings and the power tendency of the Ahrimanic
beings.
If you consider this whole matter you will have to say to yourselves:
I am only able to understand the world if I conceive of it in
connection with the number three, the triad. For we have on the one
hand the Luciferic, and on the other the Ahrimanic element, and in the
middle the human being who, as the third element, in the state of
equilibrium between the two, must feel his divine essence. We shall
only arrive at an understanding of the world if we base it on this
triad and become clear about the fact that human life is the
scale-beam. Here the fulcrum; on the one side the scale pan with the
Luciferic element, pulling upward; on the other side the scale pan
with the Ahrimanic element, pulling downward. To keep the scales in
perfect balance signifies the essential being of man. Those who were
initiated into such secrets of the spiritual evolution of mankind have
always emphasized the fact that it is only possible to understand
cosmic existence into which man is placed if it is conceived of in the
sense of the triad; that it cannot be understood if it is considered
on the basis of any other number. Thus we may say, employing our own
terminology: we have to deal with three main factors in cosmic
existence, namely: the Luciferic element, representing the one scale
of the balance, the Ahrimanic element, representing the other scale of
the balance, and the state of equilibrium which represents the Christ
Impulse.
Now you may well imagine that it is entirely in the interest of the
Ahrimanic and Luciferic powers to conceal this secret of the triad.
For the proper comprehension of this secret enables mankind to bring
about the state of equilibrium between the Ahrimanic and Luciferic
powers; that means, on the one hand, to use the Luciferic tendency
toward freedom for the achievement of a wholesome cosmic aim, and on
the other hand, to strive to achieve the same with the Ahrimanic
element. The human being's normal spiritual condition consists in
relating himself in the proper way to this trinity, this triune
structure of the world.
For, the influences upon human spiritual and cultural life do have a
strong tendency to confuse man in regard to the significance of the
triad. We can observe very clearly in modern culture that the
conception of this structure according to the triad is almost
completely eclipsed by the conception of a structure according to the
duad. If we wish to understand Goethe's Faust, we must realize,
as I have often pointed out, that this confusion in regard to the
triad influences even this great cosmic poem. If Goethe, in his day,
had had a clear view of these matters, he would not have presented the
Mephistophelean power as the only opponent of Faust who drags Faust
down, but he would have contrasted this Mephistophelean powerof
whom we know that it is identical with the Ahrimanic powerwith
the Luciferic power, and Lucifer and Mephistopheles would appear in
Faust as two opposing forces. I have spoken of this here
repeatedly. If we study the figure of Goethe's Mephistopheles, we can
see clearly that Goethe in his characterization of Mephistopheles
constantly confused the Luciferic and Ahrimanic elements. Goethe's
Mephistopheles is a figure mixed as it were, of two elements. There is
no uniformity in it. The Luciferic and Ahrimanic elements are
intermingled at random. I have dealt with this more explicitly in my
brochure, Goethe's Standard of the Soul.
This confusion which thus plays even into Goethe's Faust is
based upon the misconception which has arisen in the evolution of
modern mankindin former times it was differentof putting
the duad in the place of the triad when considering the structure of
the world; that is, one sees the good principle on the one side, the
bad principle on the other: God and the Devil.
Thus we must emphasize the fact that if a person wishes to conceive of
the structure of the world in a factual manner, he must acknowledge
the triad, the two opposing elements of the Luciferic and Ahrimanic
and the Divine element which holds the balance between the two. This
has to be contrasted with the illusion which has arisen in mankind's
spiritual evolution through the erroneous concept of the duad, of God
and the Devil, of the divine-spiritual forces above and the diabolical
forces below. It is as though we were to force man out of his position
of equilibrium if we conceal from him the fact that a sound
comprehension of the world can only result from the proper conception
of the triad and if one makes him believe that the world structure is
in some way determined by the duad. Yet, the highest human endeavors
have fallen prey to this error.
If we wish to deal with this question, we must do it without
prejudice, we must enter an unbiased sphere of thinking. We must
carefully distinguish between object and name. We must not allow
ourselves to be deceived into thinking that by giving a certain name
to a being we have at any time experienced and felt this being in the
right way.
If we think of those beings which man regards as his own divine
beings, we must say: we can feel and sense them in the right way only
if we conceive of them as effecting the equilibrium between the
Luciferic and the Ahrimanic principles. We can never feel in the right
way what we should feel as the Divine if we do not enter upon this
threefold order. Consider from this point of view Milton's Paradise
Lost, or Klopstock's Messiah which came into existence
under the influence of Paradise Lost. Here you have nothing of
a real comprehension of a threefold world structure, you have instead
a battle between the supposedly good and the supposedly evil, the
battle between heaven and hell. You have the mistaken idea of the duad
brought into man's spiritual evolution; you have what is rooted in
popular consciousness as the illusory contrast between heaven and
hell, introduced into two cosmic poems of modern times.
It is of no avail that Milton and Klopstock call the heavenly entities
divine beings. They would only be so for man if they were conceived of
on the basis of the threefold structure of world existence. Then it
would be possible to say that a battle takes place between the good
and the evil principles. But as the matter stands, a duad is assumed,
the one member of which has the attributes of the good and receives a
name derived from the divine, while the other member represents the
diabolical, the anti-divine element. What does this really signify?
Nothing less than the removal of the divine from consciousness and the
usurping of the divine name by the Luciferic principle; so that in
reality we have a battle between Lucifer and Ahriman; only, Ahriman is
endowed with Luciferic attributes, and the realm of Lucifer is endowed
with divine attributes.
You see the far-reaching consequences revealed by such a
consideration. While human beings believe they are dealing with the
divine and the diabolical elements when contemplating the contrasts
described in Milton's Paradise Lost or Klopstock's
Messiah, they are, in reality, dealing with the Luciferic and
Ahrimanic elements. There is no consciousness present of the truly
divine element; instead, the Luciferic element is endowed with divine
names.
Milton's Paradise Lost and Klopstock's Messiah are
spiritual creations which rise out of modern man's consciousness. That
which manifests in them lives in the general consciousness of mankind;
for the delusion of the duad has entered this modern consciousness,
and the truth of the triad has been withheld. The most profound
productions of the modern age which are, from a certain point of view,
considered among the greatest creations of mankind, and rightly so,
are a cultural maya and have sprung from the great delusion of modern
mankind. Everything that is active in this illusory conception is the
creation of the Ahrimanic influence, of that influence which in the
future will concentrate in the incarnation of Ahriman of which I have
already spoken. For this illusory conception in which we live today is
nothing but the result of the false world view which springs up
everywhere in modern civilization when human beings contrast heaven
and hell. Heaven is considered to be the divine element, and hell the
diabolical element, while, in truth, we have to do with the Luciferic
element called heavenly and the Ahrimanic element called infernal.
You must realize what interests rule in modern spiritual history. Even
the concept of the threefold nature of the human organism or the human
being in its entirety has in a certain respect been abolished for
occidental civilization by the eighth Œcumenical Council of
Constantinople in the year 869. I have often mentioned this. The dogma
was then established that the Christian does not have to believe in
the threefold human being but only in a twofold human being. The
belief in body, soul and spirit was tabooed, and medieval theologians
and philosophers who still knew a great deal about the true facts had
a hard time to circumvent this truth, for the so-called trichotomy,
the membering of the human being into body, soul, and
spirit had been declared a heresy. They were compelled to teach the
duality, namely, that man consists of body and soul, and not of body,
soul and spirit. And certain beings, certain men know very well that
it is of tremendous significance for human spiritual life if the
threefoldness is replaced by twofoldness.
We must consider such profound aspects if we wish to understand
correctly why in the August number of Stimmen der Zeit (Voices of
the Age) the Jesuit priest Zimmermann draws attention to the fact
that one of the recent decrees of the Holy Office in Rome prohibits
Roman Catholics from obtaining absolution if they read or possess
theosophical writings or participate in anything theosophical. The
Jesuit priest Zimmermann interprets this decree in his article in
Die Stimmen der Zeit by stating that it applies, above
everything else, to my Anthroposophy, and that those who wish to be
considered true Roman Catholics must not occupy themselves with
anthroposophical literature. He quotes one of the main reasons for
this, namely, that Anthroposophy differentiates between body, soul and
spirit, and thus teaches a heresy opposed to the orthodox belief that
man consists of body and soul.
I have mentioned to you before that modern philosophers have adopted
this differentiation of body and soul without being aware of it. They
believe that they carry on unbiased, objective science; they believe
they practice real observation which leads them to the conviction that
man consists of body and soul. In truth, however, they are following
in the footsteps of this dogma which has found its way into modern
spiritual development. What is considered science today is actually
completely dependent on such things as have been put into the world in
the course of modern human evolution. Do not believe that you will be
able with kind words to convert such people who from these quarters
slander Anthroposophy; do not believe that you will prevail upon them
and call forth their good will toward Anthroposophy. Anthroposophy
must make its way in the world through its own force, and not through
the protection of any power, be it ever so Christian in appearance.
Through inner strength alone can Anthroposophy achieve what it must
achieve in the world.
You must realize that the Christ impulse can only be comprehended if
one sees in it the impulse of equilibrium between the Ahrimanic
and the Luciferic principles, if one gives it the right place within
the trinity. We may ask: What must one do if one tries to deceive
people in regard to the true Christ impulse? One must divert their
attention from the true threefold ordering of the world and direct it
toward the delusion of the duad which is justified only when we are
concerned with the manifest and not when we are concerned with what
lies behind the manifest in the sphere of truth.
In such matters we must go beyond mere names. Calling some being or
other Christ does not mean that it is the Christ. If one wishes to
prevent another human being from acquiring a true concept of Christ,
one need only put the duad in the place of the triad; but if one
wishes to point to the Christ impulse in its true meaning, it is
necessary that the duad be supplanted by the triad. We need not join
the group of people who declare others to be heretics; we need not
declare Milton's Paradise Lost or Klopstock's Messiah to
be damnable works of the devil; we may continue to enjoy their beauty
and grandeur. But we must realize that such works, in as much as they
are the blossoms of popular modern civilization, do not speak of
Christ at all but originate from the delusion that everything that is
not part of human evolution may be considered as belonging, on
the one hand, to the realm of the devil and, on the other, to the
realm of the Divine. But in reality, instead of dealing with the realm
of the Divine we are dealing with the realm of Lucifer. Paradise Lost
describes the expulsion of man from Lucifer's realm into the realm of
Ahriman; it describes the longing of man not for the realm of the
Divine, but for the paradise that has been lost, that means, the
longing for the realm of Lucifer. You may regard Milton's Paradise
Lost and Klopstock's Messiah as beautiful descriptions of
human longing for the realm of Lucifer; this is what you should
consider them to be, for this is what they are.
You see how necessary it is to revise certain conceptions which
prevail today. If we are serious in our anthroposophical thinking and
feeling we are faced, not with insignificant, but with important
decisions. We are faced with the necessity of taking very seriously an
expression which Nietzsche has often employed, namely the expression:
the revaluation of values. We have to take this very
seriously. The achievements of modern man are in great need of
revaluation.
This does not mean that we ourselves have to become denouncers of
heresy. We constantly perform here scenes from Goethe's Faust,
and I have, as you know, devoted decades of my life to the study of
Goethe. But from my little book, Goethe's
Standard of the Soul,
you can see that this has not blinded me to the false characterization
drawn by Goethe in his Mephistopheles. It would be a philistine
standpoint, were we to say: Goethe's Mephistopheles is a false
conception; let's get rid of him. We should then be behaving like
inquisitors. As modern men we must not place ourselves in such a
position. On the other hand, we must not be indolently satisfied with
the ideas that have entered, as it were, into the flesh and bones of
the great masses of people today. Mankind will have to learn a great
deal. It will have to transvalue many values.
All this is connected with the mission of Michael in relation to those
beings of the higher hierarchies with whom he is connected. In the
subsequent lectures we shall show how we may arrive at an
understanding of those impulses which radiate from the Michael being
into our earthly human existence.
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