LECTURE VIII
Berlin, 3rd October 1905
The different incarnations of the human individuality are a kind of
swinging of the pendulum to and fro until the rhythm is brought to
rest and the higher part of man has found in the physical a fitting
expression, a suitable instrument. Approximately ever since human
beings have reincarnated, the position of sun, moon and earth has
existed as it is now. We must understand that man belongs to the great
cosmic organism. In the times in which great changes take place in the
life of humanity, mighty changes also occur in the cosmos. Earlier than
this, before there was reincarnation, sun, moon and earth were not yet
separated as now. Kant and Laplace made their observation from the
physical plane only, and to this extent their theory is quite correct,
but they did not know the connection with spiritual forces. When out
of the primal fire-vapour sun, moon and earth came into existence as
separate bodies, man also began to incarnate. When human incarnations
will have come to an end, the sun also will be re-united with the
earth. On the large scale as in the single details, one must bear in
mind these relationships of man to the universe.
You will often have heard that man usually incarnates after a period
of about two thousand years. One can investigate when people who are
alive today had their earlier incarnation. The souls who are now
incarnated, one finds as a rule about 300 to 400 years after the birth
of Christ. In addition, however, one finds others who are incarnated
at various times, some earlier, some later. But there is another way
to determine incarnations, a way which leads more certainly to the
goal. One can say: Were the human beings who die today to return in a
short time they would meet almost the same conditions as now. But man
ought to learn as much as possible on the Earth. This can only happen
when in the next incarnation he finds something new which is
essentially different from the earlier conditions.
Let us for instance imagine ourselves back into the time about 600 to
800 years before Christ; that is about the time of the Iliad and the
Odyssey. With the advanced peoples of that time the conditions of life
were quite different from what they are now. One would for instance be
astonished to see with what curious implements people ate. At that
time also people had not yet learnt to write. The great poems were
transmitted by word of mouth. When a person of those times is
reincarnated today he must as a child learn quite other things. As a
child he must learn to write. The stream of culture has meanwhile
progressed. One must distinguish between the stream of culture and the
development of the individual soul. As a child one must catch up with
the civilisation and for this reason one must be born again as a
child.
Now we must ask: What causes such utterly different conditions on
earth? This is connected with the progression of the spring equinox.
About 800 years before Christ the sun in spring entered the
constellation of Aries, of the Ram. Every year at the vernal point it
shifts a little. Because of this the conditions on the earth are
always slightly changing. Eight hundred years before Christ the sun
stood in the constellation of Aries. Earlier it stood in the
constellation of Taurus, still earlier in Gemini and still earlier in
Cancer. Now already for some hundred of years it rises in the
constellation of Pisces. After this comes Aquarius. The advance of
civilisations is also connected with the progression of the sun from
one constellation to the other.
At the time when the sun rose in the constellation of Cancer the
ancient Vedic culture of the Indians, the culture of the Rishis
reached its highest point. The Rishis, those still half-divine beings,
were the teachers of men. The Atlantean civilisation had met its
destruction; a new impulse broke in. In occultism this is called a
vortex (wirbel). This is also why, in the age in which the sun stood
in the constellation of Cancer, the sign was made in this way:
Cancer signifies a breaking in of something new, a vortex (a double
spiral).
The second cultural epoch is named the constellation of the Twins. At
that time the dual nature of the world was understood, the opposing
forces of the world, Ormuzd and Ahriman, Good and Evil. Thus the
Persians also speak of the Twins.
The third cultural epoch is that of the Sumerians in Asia Minor and of
the Egyptians. The constellation of the Bull corresponds to this
epoch. This is why in Asia the Bull was venerated and in Egypt, Apis.
At that time in Babylon and Assyria the Sumerian language was the
language of wisdom. Then the Bull fell into decadence and the Ram came
into the ascendant. The first indication of this is the Saga of the
Golden Fleece.
The fourth culture is that of the Ram, or Lamb; Christ stands in the
sign of the Ram, or Lamb; hence he calls himself the Lamb of God.
As fifth culture the external materialistic civilisation follows, in
the constellation of the Fishes. This developed principally from the
12th century onwards and reached its climax about the year 1800. This
is the culture of the Fifth sub-race, the present time.
In the constellation of the Water-Man in the future, the new
Christianity will be proclaimed. Water-Man is also the one who will
bring it, he who has already been here: John the Baptist. Later he
will again be the forerunner of Christ, when the Sixth, the spiritual
sub-race will be founded. The Theosophical Movement should be the
preparation for that time.
In the New Testament the expression on the mountain is used on
various occasions. On the mountain means: in the mystery, in the
innermost, in the intimate. Even the Sermon on the Mount is not to be
understood as a sermon for the people, but as an intimate teaching for
the disciples. The Transfiguration on the Mountain has also to be
understood in this sense. Jesus went up into the mountain with the
three disciples, Peter, James and John. There, we are told, the
disciples were caught up out of themselves; then Moses and Elias
appeared on either side of Jesus. For a moment space and time were
extinguished and the disciples found themselves with their
consciousness on the mental plane. Those who were no longer physically
present, Moses and Elias, appeared. In direct revelation they had
before them: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. The way =
Elias, Moses = the truth, Christ = the life. This appeared here to the
disciples in actual form. Jesus once said to them: Elias has come
again;
(29)
John was Elias, he has only not been recognised. But he
said further: Tell it to no man until I come again. Christianity was
not to teach reincarnation for two thousand years, not for any
arbitrary reason, but on educational grounds. People were to know
nothing of it for two thousand years. In the gospel of St. John there
is an indication of this in the miracle of the wedding at Cana where
water is turned into wine. In the old Mysteries only water was
distributed, but in the Christian Mysteries wine. For in the
priesthood, through the partaking of wine, knowledge of reincarnation
was blotted out. Whoever partakes of wine cannot attain to any true
knowledge of Manas, Buddhi and Atma. He can never comprehend
reincarnation. By his coming again Christ means his reappearance in
the Sixth sub-race when he will be proclaimed by the Water-Man.
Theosophy actually carries out the testament of Christianity and works
towards this epoch of time.
Every time the sun progresses from one sign of the Zodiac to another
incisive changes take place in civilisation. In between there elapses
a period of about two thousand six hundred years.
(30)
If we take the
moment of time when the sun entered the sign of the Ram or Lamb, about
800 years before Christ and 1800 years after Christ, then we have two
thousand six hundred years. About the year 1800 we entered the sign of
the Fishes. This is the time when materialistic culture reached its
highest point. It was prepared for in the Middle Ages and has now
begun to decline. About the year 4,400 mankind enters the sign of
spiritual culture, that of the Water-Man. Preparation has also to be
made for this.
Thus conditions change also with the constellation. With the
progression from one sign to another new conditions also arise, so
that rebirth has meaning. The human being is reborn approximately
every two thousand six hundred years, but the experiences he makes as
man and as woman are so radically different that two such
incarnations, as man and as woman, are reckoned as one. About one
thousand three hundred years elapse between two incarnations as man or
as woman, and about two thousand six hundred years between such double
incarnations if one reckons both as one. The human being is only man
or woman in regard to the physical body. When the physical body is
masculine the etheric body is feminine; and vice versa, when the
physical body is feminine the etheric body is masculine. Only the
astral body is at the same time masculine and feminine. The human
being bears within him the opposite sex as etheric body. Thus in the
etheric the man is feminine and in the etheric the woman masculine.
The physical woman has therefore many concealed masculine qualities;
the physical incarnation is present only exoterically. The human being
therefore goes through a constellation every time as man and as woman.
This is why the Master said to Sinnett that the human being is
incarnated about twice in a sub-race. Occultly both incarnations are
reckoned together as one. There must come a time in which the woman
actually approaches the culture dominated by the man. The present
woman's movement is to be recognized as the preparation for another
later and quite different woman's movement. In the future, sex
differentiation will be totally overcome.
There was a special reason why, for about two thousand years, the
teaching of reincarnation was completely suppressed. The human being
was to learn to know and value the importance of the one life.
Every slave in Ancient Egypt was still convinced of the fact that he
would return, that one day he would be master instead of slave, but
that he had to pay his karmic debts. The single life was therefore not
so important to him. But the lesson people now had to learn was to
gain firm ground under their feet; thus during one life, reincarnation
was to remain unknown. Christ therefore expressly forbade any teaching
about reincarnation. But from 800 years before Christ until about 1800
years after Christ, the time had elapsed during which nearly everyone
had gone through the one life without experiencing anything of
reincarnation. The great Masters
(31)
have the task not always to
impart the whole truth at any one time, but only that part needed by
man. This withholding of the consciousness of reincarnation came to
poetic expression in this epoch in Dante's Divine Comedy. In monastic
esotericism on the other hand, reincarnation was definitely taught when
the occasion arose. The Trappists
(32)
had to remain silent throughout one
incarnation, so that in the next they might become eloquent speakers.
They were intentionally trained in this way to become eloquent
speakers, for of these the Church can make good use. When St.
Augustine put forward the doctrine of predestination he was entirely
consistent.
(33)
Because in the age of materialism reincarnation was
not to be taught, the Augustinian doctrine of predestination had to
make its appearance. Only in this way could the differences in
people's circumstances be explained.
Connected with this is the deeply materialistic character of
traditional Christianity, which lies in the fact that the Beyond is
made dependent on one physical existence. This materialistic
teaching of Christianity has, so to say, borne its fruit. Today there
is no longer any consciousness of the Beyond. Social democracy is the
ultimate consequence of traditional Christianity. But now a new
impulse must come into the world. When one epoch comes to an end
something new breaks in. Christianity worked towards the gradual
dawning of the materialistic age. In order to bring about the
materialistic civilisation, human beings for a period of one thousand
three hundred years had to have such a teaching as was brought by
Christianity; namely, that man should make the whole of eternity
dependent upon one earthly life. Urban bourgeoisie then became the
actual founder of the age of materialism. Already at the time of
Christ the spiritual had to be betrayed by the purely material. Judas
Iscariot had to betray Christ. One can however say: had there been no
Judas there would also have been no Christianity. Judas is the first
to attach prime importance to money, that is to say, to materialism.
In Judas was incarnated the entire materialistic age. This
materialistic age has obscured and darkened the spiritual. Through his
death Christ becomes the Redeemer of materialism.
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