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Rudolf Steiner e.Lib
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The Gospel of St. John
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib Document
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The Gospel of St. John
Schmidt Number: S-1263
On-line since: 15th January, 2001
Second Lecture
26 February, 1906
Last
time I spoke about the first twelve chapters of the Gospel of
St. John. We saw that the Lazarus miracle represents the
initiation of a man into the spiritual world. Every sentence
of the John Gospel directs one to the higher world. When we
make it alive in us, we come to know the Christian
initiation. Those who know other forms of occult training and
are aware that there are other paths of initiation, also know
that he who seeks the path today will be led along different
ways. These are known to most of you. Those who have already
some contact with spiritual life know that there is an
esoteric side to our spiritual scientific strivings. The
Christian initiation has similarities with other ways of
initiation, but today this path can no longer be followed. He
who would tread it must be led by the hand of an experienced
teacher, but in view of our modern normal mode of life, it is
questionable whether this path is still open. Let us again
call to mind the Lazarus miracle in connection with the
Christian initiation.
We will
start from the normal state of sleep. What happens when a
person sleeps? In man we have the physical body, etheric
body, astral body and ego. What happens occultly, when a
person sleeps? The physical and etheric bodies remain in bed.
The astral body, together with the ego, rises out and floats
over them in the form of a ring, in the case of an
undeveloped personality, and later, in the form of the
physical body. The astral body is not inactive. It has
something to do. When the person is awake, the astral body
penetrates and interweaves the physical body. When it is
outside, it works on the physical body, protecting and caring
for it. The relation of the astral body to the physical body,
is like that of a workman to his machine, but with the
difference that in this case the workman is in the machine,
he ensouls the various parts, and makes them move. This
resemblance of worker to machine applies even better when the
person lies asleep. The astral body then works from outside.
What does it do? It makes good the damage suffered by the
physical body during the day. So one can see the
disadvantages for people who sleep badly. Beings belonging to
the third elemental kingdom have an influence on the astral
body. Beings belonging to the second elemental kingdom get at
the etheric body and those belonging to the first elemental
kingdom get access to the physical body to destroy it. Only
when the astral body works on the physical body during sleep
are these destructive processes made good.
Just to
know this does not have any influence. When however, a person
begins to work on his spiritual development, he must also
create the necessary conditions for the astral body to work
upon the physical. Meditation influences the work of the
astral body upon the physical and etheric bodies during the
night. Only beneficent beings must be allowed access to the
human being ... He who seeks initiation must achieve the
utmost calm. This includes the avoidance of all stimulants,
especially alcohol. Other requirements for any higher
striving are control of thought, a morally blameless life,
the effort not to be swayed to and fro by every feeling, be
it pain or joy, but to maintain balance in the soul. This
makes it possible for good beings to be active when the
astral body works on the physical and etheric bodies during
sleep.
In the
initiation described in the John Gospel, the astral body,
together with the etheric body, leaves the physical body.
This latter remains as though dead. This is what is meant
when it is said that Lazarus lay three days in the grave. The
Lazarus miracle is thus the scene of an initiation. The
astral and etheric bodies need to be led back into the
physical body. This the master brings to pass. The disciple
is now an ‘arisen one’ who can remember the
experiences in the higher worlds. This is possible for
everyone. However what, in the old days, was a process
lasting three and a half days takes place in a different
manner today. The experience is the same, but it is achieved
by different methods.
The
pupil of the Christian initiation has to undergo seven
trials. They were not only physical but spiritual
experiences.
Those
who had undergone them knew that real experiences are
possible outside of the body. At the first stage the pupil
experiences how man has become what he is. This was achieved
through a train of thought as follows: The plant must have a
mineral soil. Minerals are of lower rank than plants. But the
plant must bow down and say, “To thee oh stone, though
thou art lower than me, I owe my existence, my life”.
The animal is of higher rank than the plant. It breathes
oxygen and exhales carbon dioxide. The plant exhales the
oxygen. The animal must say to the plant, “To thee oh
plant, I humbly bow, for without thee I could not
live.” The same relation exists between the higher
ranking human being and the lower kingdoms. He too must say
to them, “If you were not there, I should not
be.” One must completely fill oneself with this feeling
and bow oneself in all humility. Out of deeply felt
experience of gratitude, one must be able to bow down before
what is lower than oneself. This is the washing of
feet, the first stage of a Christian initiation. Christ
bows down before the disciples and washes their feet. What is
here experienced, represents a symbol of the higher world. He
who is able to live spiritually in the higher world, who has
achieved this deep feeling that Lazarus had, he experiences
the washing of feet in the higher world. He who
experiences humiliation in the physical world, goes through
the washing of feet in a higher world. This is the
sign that he has reached the first stage on the way to
initiation. In his body, this is expressed by the feeling
that all his muscles are newly strengthened. When the muscles
become steeled after the feeling of humiliation, this
signifies the first stage of initiation.
The
second stage of the Christian initiation is the
scourging and smiting. One must learn to bear calmly
what formerly hurt one — to take upon oneself the
suffering of the world. This too finds expression in the
higher world. The strength acquired by the soul is symbolised
as scourging and real blows. Then one day one feels a sort of
prickling or stinging all over the body — a sign that
one has stood the test. This is a real experience that a
person goes through when he follows this path. The great
mystics experienced it. Such a person has reached the second
stage.
The
third stage is the crowning with thorns. At this stage
one does not only bear pain but also contempt from one's
fellow men. One has to win the fortitude to bear the feeling
of obliteration, when there is no one there to give one
courage and strength except oneself — when one is
considered entirely worthless, and yet one remains inwardly
upright. Thus must it be experienced. This is felt in the
spiritual world as the crowning with thorns. One sees oneself
with the crown of thorns. Pains in the head will be felt in
the physical body. Changes take place in the brain, something
that later also becomes noticable in the waking state.
The
fourth stage is the crucifixion. Through this a person
learns to feel his own body as a foreign object, something
like a piece of wood. He no longer connects his ego with his
body. In the spiritual world he sees himself with the cross
on his back. With this the fourth stage is reached.
Physically the stigmata appear. In the case of certain saints
this is no myth. It indicates that they have reached the
fourth stage. Such saints are bearers of the cross.
If a
person has got as far as this he comes to the fifth stage.
This is the mystical death. The whole world appears as
if covered with a veil. Everything around has lost its old
value. While a person feels himself thus lost in darkness,
suddenly the veil is rent and he begins to see the ultimate
spiritual and original aim. He gazes into a quite new, world.
At the same time he learns to recognise what lies at the
bottom of the human soul. He becomes a second person by the
side of himself and looks down on his lower self, which is
separated from him. His body is the mother that he sees
standing below him and the transformed lower self is the
disciple who bears witness that Christ lives. Now the higher
self can say to the lower self, “Behold thy
mother!”
(John, ch. 19, v. 27)
When a
person has gone through this fifth station he can progress to
the sixth stage, the burial and resurrection.
Everything pertaining to this planet becomes the body of the
Christian mystic. He feels as though the whole earth was part
of him. He has ceased to be a separate being. He is one with
the whole life of the earth. Through burial he is inwardly
bound with it. The grave becomes the source of his experience
— man and animal, plant and rock around him become
transparent. He has lost his own separate life, the higher
life of the whole Earth ...
The
seventh stage is known as the ascension into heaven.
It signifies that he is completely taken up into the
spiritual world.
The John
Gospel is a description of this Christian path of initiation.
He who takes it as an account of an external happening does
not understand it. It can only be comprehended if one has
lived through it inwardly. This is what Angelus Silesius
means, when he says:
When thou dost rise above thyself
and let God hold his sway:
Then present in thy spirit is the ascension,
for ever and for aye.
*[Angelus Silesius, “The Cherubinic
Wanderer”]
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As no
creature can see the sunlight unless its eyes are opened so
no one can understand the mystery of Golgotha, if they have
not inwardly experienced it. Once one has come to such an
inner experience, one can appreciate why the reckoning of
time is divided into before and after Christ.
Christianity attains its real meaning when it is followed as
an inner path. The John gospel is a document which can be
lived sentence by sentence. If one has lived it, one knows
that external criticism does not apply. All criticism
vanishes, and every doubt disappears, if one knows that what
is written is to be lived through and through. Every line can
be lived inwardly. The Christian spirit has to be experienced
in the depth of the soul. He who saw for himself how
everything took place knows that he speaks the truth and says
so. For he is the risen Lazarus.
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Last Modified: 02-Nov-2024
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