XII
THE NATURE OF THE VIRGIN SOPHIA
AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Yesterday we
reached the point of discussing the change which takes place
in the human astral body through Meditation, Concentration
and other practices which are given in the various methods of
initiation. We have seen that the astral body is thereby
affected in such a way that it develops within itself the
organs which it needs for perceiving in the higher worlds and
we have said that up to this point, the principle of
initiation is everywhere really the same — although the
forms of its practices conform wholly to the respective
cultural epochs. The principal difference appears with the
occurrence of the next thing which must follow. In order that
the pupil may be able actually to perceive in the higher
worlds, it is necessary that the organs which have been
formed out of the astral part, impress or stamp themselves
upon the ether body, be impressed into the etheric
element.
The
re-fashioning of the astral body indirectly through
Meditation and Concentration, is called by an ancient name,
“katharsis,” or purification. Katharsis or
purification has as its purpose the discarding from the
astral body all that hinders it from becoming harmoniously
and regularly organized, thus enabling it to acquire higher
organs. It is endowed with the germ of these higher organs;
it is only necessary to bring forth the forces which are
present in it. We have said that the most varied methods can
be employed for bringing about this katharsis. A person can
go very far in this matter of katharsis if, for example, he
has gone through and inwardly experienced all that is in my book,
The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity,
and feels that this book was for him a stimulation and that now
he has reached the point where he can himself actually reproduce
the thoughts just as they are there presented. If a person holds
the same relationship to this book that a virtuoso, in
playing a selection on the piano, holds to the composer of
the piece, that is, he reproduces the whole thing within
himself — naturally according to his ability to do so
— then through the strictly built up sequence of
thought of this book — for it is written in this manner
— katharsis will be developed to a high degree. For the
important point in such things as this book is that the
thoughts are all placed in such a way that they become
active. In many other books of the present, just by changing
the system a little, what has been said earlier in the book
can just as well be said later. In
The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity
this is not possible. Page 150 can as
little be placed fifty pages earlier in the subject matter as
the hind legs of a dog can be exchanged with the forelegs,
for the book is a logically arranged organism and the working
out of the thoughts in it has an effect similar to an inner
schooling. Hence there are various methods of bringing about
katharsis. If a person has not been successful in doing this
after having gone through this book, he should not think that
what has been said is untrue, but rather that he has not
studied it properly or with sufficient energy or
thoroughness.
Something else
must now be considered and that is that when this katharsis
has taken place, when the astral organs have been formed in
the astral body, it must all be imprinted upon the ether
body. In the pre-Christian initiation, it was done in the
following manner. After the pupil had undergone the suitable
preparatory training, which often lasted for years, he was
told: The time has now come when the astral body has
developed far enough to have astral organs of perception, now
these can become aware of their counterpart in the ether
body. Then the pupil was subjected to a procedure which today
— at least for our cultural epoch — is not only
unnecessary, but is not in all seriousness feasible. He was
put into a lethargic condition for three and a half days, and
was treated during this time in such a way that not only the
astral body left the physical and ether bodies — a
thing that occurs every night in sleep — but to a
certain degree the ether body also was lifted out; but care
was taken that the physical body remained intact and that the
pupil did not die in the meantime. The ether body was then
liberated from the forces of the physical body which act upon
it. It had become, as it were, elastic and plastic and when
the sensitory organs that had been formed in the astral body
sank down into it, the ether body received an imprint from
the whole astral body. When the pupil was brought again into
a normal condition by the Hierophant, when the astral body
and ego were again united with the physical and ether bodies
— a procedure which the Hierophant well understood
— then not only did he experience katharsis, but also
what is called “Illumination” or
“Photismos.” The pupil could then not only
perceive in the world around him all those things that were
physically perceptible, but he could employ the spiritual
organs of perception, which means, he could see and perceive
the spiritual. Initiation consisted essentially of these two
processes, Purification or Purging, and Illumination.
Then the
course of human evolution entered upon a phase in which it
gradually became impossible to draw the ether body out of the
physical without a very great disturbance in all its
functions, because the whole tendency of the post-Atlantean
evolution was to cause the ether body to be attached closer
and closer to the physical body. It was consequently
necessary to carry out other methods of initiation which
proceed in such a manner that without the separating of the
physical and ether bodies, the astral body, having become
sufficiently developed through katharsis and able of itself
to return again to the physical and etheric bodies, was able
to imprint its organs on the ether body in spite of the
hindrance of the physical body. What had to happen was that
stronger forces had to become active in Meditation and
Concentration in order that there might be the strong impulse
in the astral body for overcoming the power of resistance of
the physical body. In the first place there was the actual
specifically Christian initiation in which it was necessary
for the pupil to undergo the procedure which was described
yesterday as the seven steps. When he had undergone these
feelings and experiences, his astral body had been so
intensely affected it formed its organs of perception
plastically — perhaps only after years, but still
sooner or later — and then impressed them upon the
ether body, thus making of the pupil one of the Illuminati.
This kind of initiation which is specifically Christian could
only be described fully, if I were able to hold lectures
about its particular aspects, every day for about a fortnight
instead of only for a few days. But that is not the important
thing. Yesterday you were given certain details of the
Christian initiation. We only wish to become acquainted with
its principle.
By continually
meditating upon passages of the Gospel of St. John, the
Christian pupil is actually in a condition to reach
initiation without the three and a half day continued
lethargic sleep. If each day he allows the first verses of
the Gospel of St. John, from “In the beginning was the
Word” to the passage “full of devotion and
truth,” to work upon him, they become an exceedingly
significant meditation. They have this force within them, for
this Gospel is not there simply to be read and understood in
its entirety with the intellect, but it must be inwardly
fully experienced and felt. It is a force which comes to the
help of initiation and works for it. Then will the
“Washing of the Feet,” the
“Scourging” and other inner processes be
experienced as astral visions, wholly corresponding to the
description in the Gospel itself, beginning with the 13th
Chapter.
The
Rosicrucian initiation, although resting upon a Christian
foundation works more with other symbolic ideas which produce
katharsis, chiefly with imaginative pictures. That is another
modification which had to be used, because mankind had
progressed a step further in its evolution and the methods of
initiation must conform to what has gradually been
evolved.
We must
understand that when a person has attained this initiation,
he is fundamentally quite different from the person he was
before it. While formerly he was only associated with the
things of the physical world, he now acquires the possibility
likewise of association with the events and beings of the
spiritual world. This pre-supposes that the human being
acquires knowledge in a much more real sense than in that
abstract, dry, prosaic sense in which we usually speak of
knowledge. For a person who acquires spiritual knowledge,
finds the process to be something quite different. It is a
complete realization of that beautiful expression,
“Know thyself.” But the most dangerous thing in
the realm of knowledge is to grasp these words erroneously
and today this occurs only too frequently. Many people
construe these words to mean that they should no longer look
about the physical world, but should gaze into their own
inner being and seek there for everything spiritual. This is
a very mistaken understanding of the saying, for that is not
at all what it means. We must clearly understand that true
higher knowledge is also an evolution from one standpoint,
which the human being has attained, to another which he had
not reached previously. If a person practices self-knowledge
only by brooding upon himself, he sees only what he already
possesses. He thereby acquires nothing new, but only
knowledge of his own lower self in the present meaning of the
word. This inner nature is only one part that is necessary
for knowledge. The other part that is necessary must be
added. Without the two parts, there is no real knowledge. By
means of his inner nature, he can develop organs through
which he can gain knowledge. But just as the eye, as an
external sense organ, would not perceive the sun by gazing
into itself, but only by looking outward at the sun, so must
the inner perceptive organs gaze outwardly, in other words,
gaze into an external spiritual in order actually to
perceive. The concept “Knowledge” had a much
deeper, a more real meaning in those ages when spiritual
things were better understood than at present. Read in the
Bible the words, “Abraham knew his wife!” or this
or that Patriarch “knew his wife.” One does not
need to seek very far in order to understand that by this
expression fructification is meant. When one considers the
words, “Know thyself,” in the Greek, they do not
mean that you stare into your own inner being, but that you
fructify yourself with what streams into you from the
spiritual world. “Know thyself” means: Fructify
thyself with the content of the spiritual world!
Two things are
needed for this namely, that the human being prepare himself
through katharsis and illumination, and then that he open his
inner being freely to the spiritual world. In this connection
we may liken his inner nature to the female aspect, the outer
spiritual to the male. The inner being must be made
susceptible of receiving the higher self. When this has
happened, then the higher human self streams into him from
the spiritual world. One may ask: Where is this higher human
self? Is it within the personal man? No, it is not there. On
Saturn, Sun and Moon, the higher self was diffused over the
entire cosmos. At that time the Cosmic Ego was spread out
over all human kind, but now men have to permit it to work
upon them. They must permit this Ego to work upon their
previously prepared inner natures. This means that the human
inner nature, in other words, the astral body has to be
cleansed, purified and ennobled and subjected to katharsis,
then a person may expect that the external spirit will stream
into him for his illumination. That will occur when the human
being has been so well prepared that he has subjected his
astral body to katharsis, thereby developing his inner organs
of perception. The astral body, in any case, has progressed
so far that now when it dips down into the ether and physical
bodies, illumination or photismos results. What actually
occurs is that the astral body imprints its organs upon the
ether body, making it possible for the human being to
perceive a spiritual world about him; making it possible for
his inner being, the astral body, to receive what the ether
body is able to offer to it, what the ether body draws out of
the entire cosmos, out of the Cosmic Ego.
This cleansed,
purified astral body, which bears within it at the moment of
illumination none of the impure impressions of the physical
world, but only the organs of perception of the spiritual
world is called in esoteric Christianity the “pure,
chaste, wise Virgin Sophia.” By means of all that he
receives during katharsis, the pupil cleanses and purifies
his astral body so that it is transformed into the Virgin
Sophia. And when the Virgin Sophia encounters the Cosmic Ego,
the Universal Ego which causes illumination, the pupil is
surrounded by light, spiritual light. This second power that
approaches the Virgin Sophia, is called in esoteric
Christianity — is also so called today — the
“Holy Spirit.” Therefore according to esoteric
Christianity, it is correct to say that through his processes
of initiation the Christian esotericist attains the
purification and cleansing of his astral body; he makes his
astral body into the Virgin Sophia and is illuminated from
above — if you wish, you may call it overshadowed
— by the “Holy Spirit,” by the Cosmic,
Universal Ego. And a person thus illuminated, who, in other
words, according to esoteric Christianity has received the
“Holy Spirit” into himself, speaks forthwith in a
different manner. How does he speak? When he speaks about
Saturn, Sun and Moon, about the different members of the
human being, about the processes of cosmic evolution, he is
not expressing his own opinion. His views
do not at all come into consideration. When such a person
speaks about Saturn, it is Saturn itself that is speaking
through him. When he speaks about the Sun, the Spiritual
Being of the Sun speaks through him. He is the instrument.
His personal ego has been eclipsed, which means that at such
moments it has become impersonal and it is the Cosmic
Universal Ego that is using his ego as its instrument through
which to speak. Therefore, in true esoteric teaching which
proceeds from esoteric Christianity, one should not speak of
views or opinions, for in the highest sense of the
word this is incorrect; there are no such things. According
to esoteric Christianity, whoever speaks with the right
attitude of mind toward the world will say to himself, for
instance: If I tell people that there were two horses
outside, the important thing is not that one of them pleases
me less than the other and that I think one is a worthless
horse. The important point is that I describe the horses to
the others and give the facts. In like manner, what has been
observed in the spiritual worlds must be described
irrespective of all personal opinions. In every spiritual-
scientific system of teaching, only the series of facts must
be related and this must have nothing to do with the opinions
of the one who relates them.
Thus we have
acquired two concepts in their spiritual significance. We
have learned to know the nature of the Virgin Sophia, which
is the purified astral body, and the nature of the
“Holy Spirit,” the Cosmic Universal Ego, which is
received by the Virgin Sophia and which can then speak out of
this purified astral body. There is something else to be
attained, a still higher stage, that is the ability to help
someone else, the ability to give him the impulse to
accomplish both of these. Men of our evolutionary epoch can
receive the Virgin Sophia (the purified astral body) and the
Holy Spirit (illumination) in the manner described, but only
Christ Jesus could give to the earth what was necessary to
accomplish this. He has implanted in the spiritual part of
the earth those forces which make it possible for that to
happen at all which has been described in the Christian
initiation. You may ask how did this come about?
Two things are
necessary for an understanding of this. First we must make
ourselves acquainted with something purely historical, that
is, with the manner of giving of names which was quite
different in the age in which the Gospels were written from
the way in which it is done at present.
Those who
interpret the Gospel at present do not at all understand the
principle of giving names at the time the Gospels were
written and therefore they do not speak as they should. It
is, in fact, exceedingly difficult to describe the principle
of giving names at that time, yet we can make it
comprehensible, even though we only indicate it in rough
outlines. Let us suppose, in the case of someone whom we
meet, that instead of holding to the name which does not at
all fit him, and which has been given to him in the abstract
way customary today, we were to harken to and notice his most
distinguishing characteristics, were to notice the most
prominent attribute of his character and were in a position
to discern clairvoyantly the deeper foundations of his being,
then were to give him his name in accordance with those most
important qualities which we believe should be attributed to
him. Were we to follow such a method of giving names, we
should be doing something, at a lower more elementary stage,
similar to what was done at that time by those who gave names
in the manner of the writer of the Gospel of St. John. In
order to make very clear his manner of giving names, let us
consider the following:
The author of
the St. John's Gospel regarded the physical, historic Mother
of Jesus in her most prominent characteristics and asked
himself, — Where shall I find a name for her which will
express most perfectly her real being? Then, because she had,
by means of her earlier incarnations, reached those spiritual
heights upon which she stood; and because she appeared in her
external personality to be a counterpart, a revelation of
what was called in esoteric Christianity, the Virgin Sophia,
he called the Mother of Jesus the “Virgin
Sophia;” and this is what she was always called in the
esoteric places where esoteric Christianity was taught.
Exoterically he leaves her entirely un-named in
contradistinction to those others who have chosen for her the
secular name, Mary. He could not take the secular name, he
had to express in the name the profound, world historic
evolution. He does this by indicating that she cannot be
called Mary and what is more, he places by her side her
sister Mary, wife of Cleophas and calls her simply the
“Mother of Jesus.” He shows thereby that he does
not wish to mention her name, that it cannot be publicly
revealed. In esoteric circles, she is always called the
“Virgin Sophia.” It was she who represented the
“Virgin Sophia” as an external historical
personality.
If we now wish
to penetrate further into the nature of Christianity and its
founder, we must take under consideration yet another
mystery. We should understand clearly how to make a
distinction between the personality who, in Esoteric
Christianity, was called “Jesus of Nazareth” and
Him who was called “Christ Jesus,” the Christ
dwelling within Jesus of Nazareth.
Now what does
this mean? It means that in the historical personality of
Jesus of Nazareth, we have to do with a highly developed
human being who had passed through many incarnations and
after a cycle of high development was again reincarnated; a
person who, because of this, was attracted to a mother so
pure that the writer of the Gospel could call her the
“Virgin Sophia.” Thus we are dealing with a
highly developed human being, Jesus of Nazareth, who had
progressed far in his evolution in his previous incarnations
and in this incarnation had entered upon a highly spiritual
stage. The other evangelists were not illuminated to such a
high degree as the writer of this Gospel. It was more the
actual sense-world that was revealed to them, a world in
which they saw their Master and Messiah moving about as Jesus
of Nazareth. The mysterious spiritual relationships, at least
those of the heights into which the writer of the Gospel of
St. John could peer, were concealed from them. For this
reason they laid special emphasis upon the fact that in Jesus
of Nazareth lived the Father, who had always existed in
Judaism and was transmitted down through the generations as
the God of the Jews. And they expressed this when they said:
“If we trace back the ancestry of Jesus of Nazareth
through generation after generation, we are able to prove
that the same blood flows in Him that has flowed down through
these generations.” The evangelists give the
genealogical tables and precisely according to them they also
show at what different stages of evolution they stand. For
Matthew, the important thing is to show that in Jesus of
Nazareth we have a person in whom Father Abraham is living.
The blood of Father Abraham has flowed down through the
generations as far as Jesus. He thus traces the genealogical
tables back to Abraham. He has a more materialistic point of
view than Luke. The important thing for Luke was not alone to
show that the God who lived in Abraham was present in Jesus,
but that the ancestry, the line of descent, can be traced
back still further, even to Adam and that Adam was a son of
the very Godhead, which means that he belonged to the time
when humanity had just made the transition from a spiritual
to a physical state. Both Matthew and Luke wished to show
that this earthly Jesus of Nazareth has His being only in
what can be traced back to the divine Father-power. This was
not a matter of importance for the writer of the Gospel of
St. John who could gaze into the spiritual world. The
important thing for him was not the words, “I and
Father Abraham are one,” but that at every moment of
time, there exists in the human being an Eternal which was
present in him before Father Abraham. This he wished to show.
In the beginning was the Word which is called the “I
AM.” Before all external things and beings, He was. He
was in the beginning. For those who wished rather to describe
Jesus of Nazareth and were only able to describe him, it was
a question of showing how from the beginning the blood flowed
down through the generations. It was important to them to
show that the same blood flowing down through the generations
flowed also in Joseph, the father of Jesus.
If we could
speak quite esoterically it would naturally be necessary to
speak of the idea of the so-called “virgin
birth,” but this can be discussed only in the most
intimate circles. It belongs to the deepest mysteries that
exist and the misunderstanding connected with this idea
arises because people do not know what is meant by the
“virgin birth.” They think that it means there
was no fatherhood. But it is not that; a much more profound,
a more mysterious something lies at the back of it which is
quite compatible with what the other disciples wish to show,
that is, that Joseph is the father of Jesus. If they were to
deny this, then all the trouble they take to show this to be
a fact would be meaningless. They wish to show that the
ancient God exists in Jesus of Nazareth. Luke especially
wished to make this very clear, therefore he traces the whole
ancestry back to Adam and then to God. How could he have come
to this conclusion, if he really wished only to say: I am
showing you that this genealogical tree exists, but Joseph,
as a matter of fact, had nothing to do with it. It would be
very strange if people were to take the trouble to represent
Joseph as a very important personality and then were to shove
him aside out of the whole affair.
In the event
of Palestine, we have not only to do with this highly
developed personality, Jesus of Nazareth, who had passed
through many incarnations, and had developed himself so
highly that he needed such an extraordinary mother as the
Virgin Sophia, but we have also to do with a second mystery.
When Jesus of Nazareth was thirty years of age, he had
advanced to such a stage through what he had experienced in
his present incarnation that he could perform an action which
it is possible for one to perform in exceptional cases. We
know that the human being consists of physical, ether and
astral bodies and an ego. This fourfold human being is the
human being as he lives here among us. If a person stands at
a certain high stage of evolution, it is possible for him at
a particular moment to draw out his ego from the three bodies
and abandon them, leaving them intact and entirely uninjured.
This ego then goes into the spiritual worlds and the three
bodies remain behind. We meet this process at times in cosmic
evolution. At some especially exalted, enraptured moment, the
ego of a person departs and enters into the spirit world
— under certain conditions this can be extended over a
long period — and because the three bodies are so
highly developed by the ego that lived in them, they are fit
instruments for a still higher being who now takes possession
of them. In the thirtieth year of Jesus of Nazareth, that
Being whom we have called the Christ, took possession of his
physical, ether and astral bodies. This Christ Being could
not incarnate in an ordinary child's body, but only in one
which had first been prepared by a highly developed ego, for
this Christ-Being had never before been incarnated in a
physical body. Therefore from the thirtieth year on, we are
dealing with the Christ in Jesus of Nazareth.
What in
reality took place? The fact is that the corporality of Jesus
of Nazareth which he had left behind was so mature, so
perfect, that the Sun Logos, the Being of the six Elohim,
which we have described as the spiritual Being of the Sun,
was able to penetrate into it. It could incarnate for three
years in this corporality, could become flesh. The Sun Logos
Who can shine into human beings through illumination, the Sun
Logos Himself, the Holy Spirit, entered. The Universal-Ego,
the Cosmic Ego entered and from then on during three years,
the Sun Logos spoke through the body of Jesus. The Christ
speaks through the body of Jesus during these three years.
This event is indicated in the Gospel of St. John and also in
the other Gospels as the descent of the dove, of the Holy
Spirit, upon Jesus of Nazareth. In esoteric Christianity it
is said, that at that moment the ego of Jesus of Nazareth
left his body, and that from then on the Christ is in him,
speaking through him in order to teach and work. This is the
first event that happens, according to the Gospel of St.
John. We now have the Christ within the astral, ether and
physical bodies of Jesus of Nazareth. There He worked as has
been described until the Mystery of Golgotha occurred. What
occurred on Golgotha? Let us consider that important moment
when the blood flowed from the wounds of the Crucified
Saviour. In order that you may understand me better, I shall
compare what occurred with something else.
Let us suppose
we have here a vessel filled with water. In the water, salt
is dissolved and the water becomes quite transparent. Because
we have warmed the water, we have made a salt solution. Now
let us cool the water. The salt precipitates and we see how
the salt condenses below and forms a deposit at the bottom of
the vessel. That is the process for one who sees only with
physical eyes. But for a person who can see with spiritual
eyes, something else is happening. While the salt is
condensing below, the spirit of the salt streams up through
the water, filling it. The salt can only become condensed
when the spirit of the salt has departed from it and become
diffused into the water. Those who understand these things
know that wherever condensation takes place, a
spiritualization also always occurs. What thus condenses
below has its counterpart above in the spiritual, just as in
the case of the salt, when it condenses and is precipitated
below, its spirit streams upward and disseminates. Therefore,
it was not only a physical process that took place when the
blood flowed from the wounds of the Saviour, but it was
actually accompanied by a spiritual process; that is, the
Holy Spirit which was received at the Baptism united Itself
with the earth; that the Christ Himself flowed into the very
being of the earth. From now on, the earth was changed, and
this is the reason for saying to you, in earlier lectures,
that if a person had viewed the earth from a distant star, he
would have observed that its whole appearance was altered
with the Mystery of Golgotha. The Sun Logos became a part of
the earth, formed an alliance with it and became the Spirit
of the Earth. This He achieved by entering into the body of
Jesus of Nazareth in his thirtieth year, and by remaining
active there for three years, after which He continued to
remain on the earth. Now, the important thing is, that this
Event must produce an effect upon the true Christian; that it
must give something by which he may gradually develop the
beginnings of a purified astral body in the Christian sense.
There had to be something there for the Christian whereby he
could make his astral body gradually more and more like a
Virgin Sophia, and through it, receive into himself the Holy
Spirit which was able to spread out over the entire earth,
but which could not be received by anyone whose astral body
did not resemble the Virgin Sophia. There had to be something
which possesses the power to transform the human astral body
into a Virgin Sophia. What is this power? It consists in the
fact of Christ Jesus entrusting to the Disciple whom He loved
— in other words to the writer of the Gospel of St.
John — the mission of describing truly and faithfully
through his own illumination the events of Palestine in order
that men might be affected by them. If men permit what is
written in the Gospel of St. John to work sufficiently upon
them, their astral body is in the process of becoming a
Virgin Sophia and it will become receptive to the Holy
Spirit. Gradually, through the strength of the impulse which
emanates from this Gospel, it will become susceptible of
feeling the true spirit and later of perceiving it. This
mission, this charge, was given to the writer of the Gospel
by Jesus Christ. You need but read the Gospel. The Mother of
Jesus — the Virgin Sophia in the esoteric meaning of
Christianity — stands at the foot of the Cross, and
from the Cross the Christ says to the Disciple whom He loved:
“Henceforth, this is thy Mother” and from this
hour the Disciple took her unto himself. This means:
“That force which was in My astral body and made it
capable of becoming bearer of the Holy Spirit, I now give
over to thee; thou shalt write down what this astral body has
been able to acquire through its development.”
“And the Disciple took her unto himself,” that
means he wrote the Gospel of St. John. And this Gospel of St.
John is the Gospel in which the writer has concealed powers
which develop the Virgin Sophia. At the Cross, the mission
was entrusted to him of receiving that force as his mother
and of being the true, genuine interpreter of the Messiah.
This really means that if you live wholly in accordance with
the Gospel of St. John and understand it spiritually, it has
the force to lead you to Christian katharsis, it has the
power to give you the Virgin Sophia. Then will the Holy
Spirit, united with the earth, grant you illumination or
photismos according to the Christian meaning. And what the
most intimate disciples experienced there in Palestine was so
powerful that from that time on, they possessed at least the
capacity of perceiving in the spiritual world. The most
intimate disciples had received this capacity into
themselves. Perceiving in the spirit, in the Christian sense,
means that the person transforms his astral body to such a
degree through the power of the Event of Palestine that what
he sees need not be before him externally and
physically-sensible. He possesses something by means of which
he can perceive in the spirit. There were such intimate
pupils. The woman who anointed the feet of Christ Jesus in
Bethany had received through the Event of Palestine the
powerful force needed for spiritual perception, and she is,
for example, one of those who first understood that what had
lived in Jesus was present after His death, that is, had been
resurrected. She possessed this faculty. It may be asked:
Whence came this possibility? It came through the development
of her inner sense-organs. Are we told this in the Gospel? We
are indeed; we are told that Mary Magdalene was led to the
grave, that the body had disappeared and that she saw there
two spiritual forms. These two spiritual forms are always to
be seen when a corpse is present for a certain time after
death. On the one side is to be seen the astral body, and on
the other, what gradually separates from it as ether body,
then passing over into the cosmic ether. Wholly apart from
the physical body, there are two spiritual forms present
which belong to the spiritual world.
Then the
disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary
stood without at the sepulchre weeping; and as she wept she
stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two
angels in white sitting.
She beheld
this because she had become clairvoyant through the force and
power of the Event of Palestine. And she beheld something
more: she beheld the Risen Christ. Was it necessary for her
to be clairvoyant, to be able to behold the Christ? If you
have seen a person in physical form a few days ago, do you
not think you would recognize him again if he should appear
before you?
And when she
had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus
standing and knew not that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith
unto her, Woman why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She,
supposing it to be the gardener . ...
And in order
that it might be told to us as exactly as possible, it was
not only said once, but again at the next appearance of the
Risen Christ, when Jesus appeared at the sea of
Gennesareth.
But when the
morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the
disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
The esoteric
pupils find Him there. Those who had received the full force
of the Event of Palestine could grasp the situation and see
that it was the Risen Jesus who could be perceived
spiritually. Although the disciples and Mary Magdalene saw
Him, yet there were some among them who were less able to
develop clairvoyant power. One of these was Thomas. It is
said that he was not present the first time the disciples saw
the Lord, and he declared he would have to lay his hands in
His wounds, he would have to touch physically the body of the
Risen Christ. You ask: What happened? The effort was then
made to assist him to develop spiritual perception. And how
was this done? Let us take the words of the Gospel
itself:
And after a
week His disciples were again within, and Thomas with them:
then came Jesus the doors being shut, and stood in their
midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Then saith
He to Thomas, reach hither thy fingers and behold My hands,
and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into My side: and
be not faithless, but believing. And thou shalt behold
something if thou dost not rely upon the outer appearance,
but art impregnated with inner power.
This inner
power which should proceed from the Event of Palestine is
called “Faith.” It is no ordinary force, but an
inner clairvoyant power. Permeate thyself with inner power,
then thou needest no longer hold as real that only which thou
seest externally; for blessed are they who are able to know
what they do not see outwardly!
Thus we see
that we have to do with the full reality and truth of the
Resurrection and that only those are fully able to understand
it, who have first developed the inner power to perceive in
the spirit world. This will make the last chapter of the
Gospel of St. John comprehensible to you, in which again and
again it is pointed out that the closest followers of Christ
Jesus have reached the stage of the Virgin Sophia, because
the Event of Golgotha had been consummated in their presence.
But when they had to stand firm for the first time, had
actually to behold a spiritual event, they were still blinded
and had first to find their way. They did not know that He
was the same One Who had earlier been among them. Here is
something which we must grasp with the most subtle concepts;
for the grossly materialistic person would say: “Then
the Resurrection is undermined!” The miracle of the
Resurrection is to be taken quite literally, for He said:
“Lo, I remain with you always, even unto the end of the
age, unto the end of the cosmic age.”
He is there
and will come again, although not in a form of flesh, but in
a form in which those who have been sufficiently developed
through the power of the Gospel of St. John, can actually
perceive Him and possessing the power to perceive Him, they
will no longer be unbelieving. The mission of the Spiritual
Science Movement is to prepare those who have the will to
allow themselves to be prepared, for the return of the Christ
upon earth. This is the cosmo-historical significance of
Spiritual Science, to prepare mankind and to keep its eyes
open for the time when the Christ will appear again actively
among men in the sixth cultural epoch, in order that that may
be accomplished for a great part of humanity which was
indicated to us in the Marriage at Cana.
Therefore the
world-concept obtained from Spiritual Science appears like an
execution of the testament of Christianity. In order to be
lead to real Christianity, the men of the future will have to
receive that spiritual teaching which Spiritual Science is
able to give. Many people may still say today: Spiritual
Science is something that really contradicts true
Christianity. But those are the little popes who form
opinions about things of which they know nothing and who make
into a dogma: What I do not know does not exist.
This
intolerance will become greater and greater in the future and
Christianity will experience the greatest danger just from
those people who, at present, believe they can be called good
Christians. The Christianity of Spiritual Science will
experience serious attacks from the Christians in name, for
all concepts must change, if a true spiritual understanding
of Christianity is to come about. Above all, the soul must
become more and more conversant with and understanding of the
legacy of the writer of the Gospel of St. John, the great
school of the Virgin Sophia, the St. John's Gospel itself.
Only Spiritual Science can lead us deeper into this
Gospel.
In these
lectures, only examples could be given showing how Spiritual
Science can introduce us into the Gospel of St. John, for it
is impossible to explain the whole of it. We read in the
Gospel itself:
And there
are also many other things which Jesus did; and I suppose
that were they all written down one after the other, the
world could not contain all the books that would have to be
written.
Just as the
Gospel itself cannot go into all the details of the Event of
Palestine, so too is it impossible for even the longest
course of lectures to present the full spiritual content of
the Gospel. Therefore we must be satisfied with those
indications which could be given at this time; we must
content ourselves with the thought that through just such
indications in the course of human evolution, the true
testament of Christianity becomes executed. Let us allow all
this to have such an effect upon us that we may possess the
power to hold fast to the foundation which we recognize in
the Gospel of St. John, when others come to us and say: You
are giving us too complicated concepts, too many concepts
which we must first make our own in order to comprehend this
Gospel: the Gospel is for the simple and naive and one dare
not approach them with many concepts and thoughts. Many say
this today. They perhaps refer to another saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.” One can merely quote such a saying
as long as one does not understand it, for it really says:
“Blessed are the beggars in spirit, for they shall
reach the kingdom of heaven within themselves.” This
means that those who are like beggars of the spirit, who
desire to receive more and more of the spirit, will find in
themselves the kingdom of heaven!
At the present
time the idea is all too prevalent that everything religious
is identical with all that is primitive and simple. People
say: We acknowledge that Science possesses many and
complicated ideas, but we do not grant the same to Faith and
Religion. Faith and Religion — so say many
“Christians” — must be simple and naive!
They demand this. And many rely upon a conception which is
little quoted perhaps, but which in the present is haunting
the minds of men and which Voltaire, one of the great
teachers of materialism, has expressed in the words:
“Whoever wishes to be a prophet must find believers,
for what he asserts must be believed, and only what is
simple, what is always repeated in its simplicity, that alone
finds believers.”
This is often
so with the prophets, both true and false. They take the
trouble to say something and to repeat it again and again and
the people learn to believe it, because it is constantly
repeated. The representative of Spiritual Science desires to
be no such prophet. He does not wish to be a prophet at all.
And although it may often be said: “Yes, you not only
repeat, but you are always elucidating things from other
sides, you are always discussing them in other ways;”
when they speak thus to him, he is guilty of no fault. A
prophet wishes that people believe in him. Spiritual Science
has no desire to lead to belief, but to
knowledge. Therefore let us take Voltaire's
utterance in another way. He says: — “The
simple is believed and is the concern of
the prophet.” Spiritual Science says: — the
manifold is known. Let us try to understand
more and more that Spiritual Science is something that is
manifold — not a creed, but a path to knowledge, and
consequently it bears within it the manifold. Therefore let
us not shrink from collecting a great deal in order that we
may understand one of the most important Christian documents,
the Gospel of St. John. We have attempted to assemble the
most varied material which places us in the position of being
able to understand more and more the profound truths of this
Gospel; able to understand how the physical mother of Jesus
was an external manifestation, an external image of the
Virgin Sophia; to understand what spiritual importance the
Virgin Sophia had for the pupil of the Mysteries, whom the
Christ loved; again to understand how, for the other
Evangelists — who view the bodily descent of Jesus as
important — the physical father plays his significant
part when it was a question of the external imprint of the
God-idea in the blood; and further, to understand what
significance the Holy Spirit had for John, the Holy Spirit
through which the Christ was begotten in the body of Jesus
and dwelt therein during the three years and which is
symbolized for us in the descent of the Dove at the Baptism
by John.
If we
understand that we must call the father of Christ Jesus the
Holy Spirit who begot the Christ in the bodies of Jesus, then
if we are able to comprehend a thing from all sides, we shall
find it easy to understand that those disciples who were less
highly initiated could not give us so profound a picture of
the Events of Palestine as the Disciple whom the Lord loved.
And if people, at present, speak of the Synoptics —
which are the only authoritative Gospels for them —
this only shows that they do not have the will to rise to an
understanding of the true form of the Gospel of St. John. For
everybody resembles the God he understands. If we try to make
into a feeling, into an experience, what we can learn from
Spiritual Science about the Gospel of St. John, we shall then
find that this Gospel is not a text-book, but a force
which can be active within our souls.
If these short
lectures have aroused in you the feeling that this Gospel
contains not only what we have been discussing here, but that
indirectly, through the medium of words, it contains the
force which can develop the soul itself further, then what
was really intended in these lectures has been rightly
understood. Because in them, not only was something intended
for the understanding, for the intellectual capacity of
understanding, but that which takes its round-about path
through this intellectual capacity of understanding should
condense into feelings and inner experiences, and these
feelings and experiences should be a result of the facts that
have been presented here. If, in a certain sense, this has
been rightly understood, we shall also comprehend what is
meant when it is said that the Movement for Spiritual Science
has the mission of raising Christianity into Wisdom, of
rightly understanding Christianity, indirectly through
spiritual wisdom. We shall understand that Christianity is
only in the beginning of its activity, and its true mission
will be fulfilled when it is understood in its true spiritual
form. The more these lectures are understood in this way, the
more have they been comprehended in the sense in which they
were intended.
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