LECTURE TEN
Berne, September 10, 1910
We have
heard in these lectures that through the coming of Christ
Jesus the forces of the human Ego were to be gradually
endowed with those faculties which in the ancient
Mysteries could be acquired by man only through the
suppression, the dulling, of his Ego. In all ancient
Initiations there was the possibility of rising into the
spiritual world, into the Kingdoms of Heaven. But owing
to the character of human evolution in pre-Christian
times, man's Ego could not ascend into the Kingdoms of
Heaven in the same state or condition in which it
confronts the physical-material world. Two conditions of
the human soul must therefore be distinguished. The one
is the condition familiar to the normal man of to-day as
prevailing between the times of waking and going to
sleep, when his Ego perceives and is aware of the objects
of the material world. In the second condition there is
no definite consciousness of Ego-hood. It was in this
latter condition that in the ancient Mysteries man was
transported into the Kingdoms of Heaven. According to the
preaching of John the Baptist and then of Christ Jesus
Himself, these Kingdoms of Heaven were, to be brought
down to the Earth in order that mankind might receive an
impetus for development enabling men to experience the
higher worlds while maintaining full Ego-consciousness.
It t was thereby only natural that those who recorded the
Christ-Jesus-Event should have described the different
processes undergone by a candidate for Initiation in the
ancient Mysteries, but that at the same time an
indication should be given of a new element,
showing that now it was not a matter of the second
condition of soul but of a new condition in which the Ego
is fully conscious.
In the
lecture yesterday we studied the nine Beatitudes at the
beginning of the Sermon on the Mount from this point of
view. Still more could be said about the contents of the
present text of St. Matthew's Gospel which was
translated, not always without ambiguity, from the
Aramaic language into Greek. But even in the Greek text
of the Gospel one can detect, in the continuation of the
Sermon on the Mount too, definite indications of what a
man formerly experienced while his Ego was suppressed and
in a dulled condition. Whereas he was once able to say:
‘When I suppress my Ego and pass into the spiritual
world, I shall grasp certain fundamental truths’
— in the future this will be possible while
retaining full Ego-consciousness. To understand what this
implies it is essential to know something more about the
use of names or designations in olden times. They were
not chosen as they are to-day, but always with
consciousness of the reality involved. And the
expressions used in the Sermon on the Mount show clearly
that Christ Jesus felt Himself to be the bringer of
Ego-consciousness at a higher stage than that hitherto
attained, and able to experience the Kingdoms of Heaven
as an inner reality. He therefore brings home this
contrast to the souls of His disciples: ‘In earlier
times too it was said that revelations come from the
Kingdoms of Heaven. But from now onwards you will
experience these things when you let your Ego itself
speak, in what your Ego says to you.’ — Hence
He constantly repeated words: ‘I say unto
you!’ — for Christ Jesus felt Himself to be '
the Representative of the human soul which comes to
expression when uttering the words: ‘I say
it,’ ‘I say it with my full
Ego-consciousness.’ This utterance, which occurs
many taken in a trivial sense. It calls attention
repeatedly to the new impulse inculcated through Christ
Jesus into the evolution of humanity. Read the
continuation of the Sermon on the Mount — With this
in mind and you will feel that Christ Jesus wished to
say: Hitherto you could not call upon your Ego; but now,
through what I have brought to you, you will be able
gradually to acquire the treasures of the Kingdoms of
Heaven through your own inner power, through the power of
your own ‘I’. — The whole spirit of the
Sermon on the Mount is pervaded by the new impulse of
human Egohood; and it is the same when the narrative
leads on to the so-called ‘healings’.
As everyone
knows, these acts of healing have been the subject of
widespread discussions. The point most often emphasised
is that the Gospels are speaking here of miracles. But
let us go more closely into this. In the lecture
yesterday I said that people of to-day entirely disregard
the changes and metamorphoses undergone by human nature
in the course of evolution. If you were to compare a
physical body of the time of Christ, let alone earlier,
with one of the modern age, a very significant difference
would be revealed, a difference that cannot, it is true,
be established by anatomy, but certainly by occult
investigation. You would find that the physical body has
solidified, has become denser; at the time of Christ
Jesus it was much more pliable. Above all, man's vision
was such that he perceived things he no longer perceives
to-day and moreover possessed some knowledge of certain
forces working in and shaping the body. The muscles, for
example, made a very distinct and much stronger
impression on a more delicate faculty of perception. This
kind of vision was gradually lost. Childish theories
connected with the history of art point to old drawings
where the lines indicating the muscles are very
conspicuous and regard this as exaggeration and a sign of
the artist's lack of skill. The reason is that
originators of those theories do not know that such
drawings were based on actual observation — a
faculty that was right and proper in ancient times
although it would be out of place in the modern age. But
be that as it may, we will concern ourselves now with the
characteristics of human bodies that were once quite
differently constituted.
In those
early times the power of the soul and of the spirit had a
much more immediate influence on the human body than was
the case later on, when the soul had lost power over the
body because of its greater density. It was therefore far
more possible in those early times for healing to be
brought about by forces of the soul. With its far greater
power, the soul was able to permeate a disordered body
with the forces of healing drawn from the spiritual
world, so that harmony might again be established. In the
course of advancing evolution this power of the soul over
the body had been gradually diminishing. Processes of
healing in olden times were therefore spiritual
processes to a far greater extent than was the case later
on. Those who were regarded as doctors were not doctors
in the modern, physical sense, but most of them were
healers who worked upon the body by way of the soul. They
purified the soul,instilled healthy feelings, impulses
and will-forces into it through the spiritual influences
they were able to bring to bear. This might have taken
place either in the condition of ordinary waking life, in
the so-called ‘temple sleep’, or in something
akin to it — which at that time simply meant
inducing a state in which a man became clairvoyant. In
studying conditions of civilization at that time,
therefore, it must be realised that those who were strong
enough in soul to draw upon forces they had themselves
acquired, were able to make a very real effect upon the
souls of other men and therewith upon their bodies. So
too, those who were in some way permeated with spirit and
from whom forces of healing were known to radiate into
their surroundings, were also called
‘healers’. As a matter of fact, not only the
Therapeutae but the Essenes too, in a certain sense,
would have to be called healers. Moreover in a certain
dialect current in Asia Minor among those associated with
the birth of Christianity, the word ‘Jesus’
was the translation of the expression ‘spiritual
healer’. ‘Jesus’ expresses
‘spiritual physician’ and it is a fairly
correct interpretation. [ Note 01 ]
This is an indication of what was associated with names
and designations in an age when men still felt that they
pointed to certain realities.
But now let
us throw our minds back to the civilization of those
times. A person speaking of conditions of life as they
then were, would have said: There are men who have been
admitted into the Mysteries where, by sacrificing some
degree of their Ego-consciousness, they can establish
connection with certain forces of soul-and-spirit which
then radiate into the environment through them; such men
become healers. Supposing that such a man had become a
follower of Christ Jesus, he would have said: Wondrous
things have come to pass! Formerly those alone could
become healers of the soul who had received spiritual
forces into themselves in the Mysteries; but there has
now been among us One who was a healer while maintaining
full Ego-consciousness, who had not undergone the
procedures of the Mysteries. — The fact that
spiritual healings had taken place would not have
astonished such a man, neither would the story of a
spiritual healer narrated in the Gospel of St. Matthew
have struck him as indicating anything particularly
miraculous. His attitude would have been: What is
wonderful about such men being spiritual healers? It is
quite natural that they should be I — Accounts of
such healings would not have seemed miraculous in those
days. But the point of real significance is indicated
when the writer of the Gospel of St. Matthew speaks of
One who had imparted a new power to mankind, who by
drawing upon forces of his Ego — with which healing
was not formerly possible — had actually healed the
sick. So you see, the Gospels are speaking of something
altogether different from what is usually thought. Many
proofs, historical evidence too, could be presented in
verification of what Spiritual Science establishes from
occult sources.
If the
statement just made is true, it must have been realised
in the days of antiquity that under certain conditions
the sight of the blind could be restored by spiritual
influence. Attention has rightly been called to early
portrayals of these things. The author referred to
yesterday, John M. Robertson, mentions that there exists
in Rome a figure of Aesclepius standing in front of two
blind men, and Robertson naturally concluded that it
indicated an act of healing and that the writers of the
Gospels incorporated this into their narratives. The
important point in this example is not that spiritual
healings were miracles but that the aim of the artist was
to indicate that Aesclepius was an Initiate who had
acquired powers of healing through the suppression of his
Ego-consciousness in the Mysteries. The writer of the
Gospel of St. Matthew, however, wished to make it clear
that although in the case of Christ Jesus healings were
not achieved in this way, the impulse that was once
active in Him must in time be acquired by all mankind,
and can be acquired through the power of the Ego
itself. This is beyond the reach of men to-day
because the power is not to be instilled into humanity
until a somewhat distant future. But what was
accomplished by Christ at the beginning of our era will
take root, and men will gradually become capable of
bringing it to expression. This will happen and it was
what the writer of St. Matthew's Gospel wished to convey
in his narratives of the healings. — And so,
speaking out of occult consciousness, I can say: The
writer of the Gospel of St. Matthew had no desire to
depict any ‘miracle’ but something entirely
natural, entirely understandable. He wanted also to show
that such healing was brought about in a new
way. That is the strict truth of these matters. The
Gospels have indeed been badly misunderstood!
How may we
expect the narrative to continue? We have heard that what
took place in the life of Christ Jesus in the form of the
so-called Temptation was a descent into all the
experiences undergone by a man when he penetrates into
his physical body and etheric body. In the case of
Christ, the forces streaming from the physical body and
etheric body were able to work in the way that comes to
expression in the Sermon on the Mount and in the healings
that follow it. The power of Christ Jesus now worked as
the power of an Initiate in the Mysteries would have
worked, namely, by attracting pupils and disciples. And
here again it was inevitable that Christ Jesus should
attract disciples in His own unique way.
To
understand the chapters in the Gospel of St. Matthew
following the Sermon on the Mount and the accounts of the
healings, preparation is necessary in the form of a
certain knowledge of occult facts which we have acquired
through the years. We know that when a man is being led
upwards through Initiation into the higher worlds, he
develops a kind of Imaginative vision, a vision
consisting of true Imaginations. Those who were around
Christ Jesus had necessarily to acquire not only the
faculty of listening with a certain measure of
understanding to utterances as majestic as those of the
Sermon on the Mount, but of participating intelligently
in the acts of healing performed by Christ Jesus; it was
also necessary that the mighty power working in Him
should gradually pass over to those who were His closest
friends and disciples. This too is indicated in the
Gospel. It is first of all shown how, after the
Temptation, Christ Jesus is able to give a new form to
the ancient teachings and to perform healings through a
new impulse. But then it is shown how He worked upon His
disciples in a new way, how the fullness of power
incorporated in him affected the disciples and followers
around Him. How is this shown? By the fact that for
unreceptive, insensitive men, what He represented had
also to be given expression in words. But the effect of
His influence upon those who were receptive, whom He had
Himself chosen and guided, was different. Imaginations
arose in them and they attained the next stage of higher
knowledge. The power emanating from Christ Jesus
therefore worked in two ways: the effect upon those who
were not His chosen disciples was that they heard His
words and accepted them as theory; the effect upon the
others whom He had chosen because they had witnessed the
manifestations of His power and to whom, because of their
special karma, He could transmit that power, was that
Imaginations were awakened in their souls and insight
pointing to a higher stage on the path into the spiritual
worlds. This is indicated in the saying that those who
are ‘without’ hear parables only — that
is to say, pictures, are presented to them, symbolic
images of happenings in the spiritual world. But to the
others He said: You understand the meaning of the
parables and the words that guide you into the higher
worlds. — These verses must not be interpreted in a
shallow sense but recognized as guidance whereby the
disciples were led upwards into the spiritual worlds.
And now we
will go into the question of how the disciples could be
led into the higher worlds. To understand what I am now
going to say needs not only attentive listening but also
a certain goodwill, fortified by the spiritual-scientific
knowledge you have already acquired. I want to convey as
clearly as possible the real meaning of the happenings
described in the next chapters of the Gospel of St.
Matthew.
We will
once more remind ourselves that there are two modes of
Initiation. The process in one is that a man descends
into his physical body and etheric body, learns to know
his own inner nature and comes into contact with the
forces that work creatively in him. And in the other mode
of Initiation a man is led out into the spiritual world,
into the Macrocosm. Now we know that this — as
regards what actually happens, not as regards
consciousness — takes place every time a human
being goes to sleep; his astral body and Ego, withdrawn
from his physical and etheric bodies, pour into the world
of stars and absorb its forces — hence the
designation, astral’ body. Through this form of
Initiation a man is able not only to survey happenings on
the Earth but to expand into the Cosmos, to gain
knowledge of the world of the stars and absorb its
forces, But the condition that can only gradually be
attained by man (in Initiation) was present in the,Christ
in the form consonant with His special nature after the
Baptism by John. In Him, however, it was not comparable
with the state of sleep; it was present in Him when He
was not sleeping but was awake in his physical body and
etheric body. He was able to unite Himself with the
forces of the world of stars and carry those forces into
the physical world.
What Christ
Jesus brought. about can therefore be described as
follows. — Through the force of attraction
exercised by the physical and etheric bodies that had
been specifically prepared for Him, He drew down through
His very nature the power of the Sun, of the Moon, of the
Stars, of the whole Cosmos connected with our Earth. And
the deeds He performed became channels for the
health-bestowing, strength-giving life otherwise
streaming from the Cosmos through man when he is outside
his physical and etheric bodies during sleep. The forces
with which Christ Jesus worked were forces which streamed
down from the Cosmos through the power of attraction
exercised by Hi body and streamed forth again from this
body to His disciples. Receptive as they were, the
disciples now rightly began to feel: Verily Christ Jesus
is a Being through whom the forces of the Cosmos are
brought to us as spiritual nourishment; they pour upon
us.
But the
disciples themselves lived in two states of
consciousness, for they were not yet men who had reached
the highest stage of development; it was through Christ
that the attainment of a higher stage was made possible
for them. The two states of their consciousness may be
compared with those of waking life and sleep. The magical
power of Christ was able to work upon the disciples in
both states of consciousness, not only by day, when He
was actually near them, but also during sleep when they
had left their physical and etheric bodies. Whereas in
the ordinary way man's being expands into the worlds of
stars unknowingly, Christ's power was now with the
disciples and they actually beheld these worlds; they
knew too: Christ's power gives us nourishment from the
worlds of stars.
But these
two states of consciousness in which the disciples lived
had still another effect. In every human being — in
a disciple of Christ Jesus too — we must pay
attention both to what he is as a man in the immediate
present and to the potentialities within him for future
incarnations. In each and all of you lie the rudiments of
what will present itself to the world in a quite
different form when it appears again in a new incarnation
during a future epoch of civilization. And if through
these potential faculties that are already within you,
you were to become clairvoyant, vision of the immediate
future would arise as a first manifestation of
super-sensible sight. Among the first clairvoyant
experiences — provided they were genuine and pure
— would be those concerning happenings of the
immediate future. — This was the case in the
disciples. In their normal waking consciousness Christ's
power streamed into them and they could say: In our
waking hours Christ's power takes effect in us in a way
befitting our normal day-conscious-ness. — But what
happened to them while they were sleeping? Because they
were disciples of Jesus and the Christ-power had worked
upon them, they always became clairvoyant at certain
times during sleep. They did not, however, see what was
taking place in the present but what would come to pass
in the future. They plunged as it were into the ocean of
astral vision and foresaw what was to happen to man in
future time.
Thus the
disciples lived in these two states of consciousness. Of
the one they could say: In our waking state Christ brings
us from the great Universe the forces of the cosmic
worlds, communicating them to us as spiritual
nourishment. Because He is an embodiment of the Sun's
power, He brings down to us everything revealed by
Zoroastrianism when understood in the light of
Christianity. He is the intermediary for the powers which
the Sun can send forth from the seven day-constellations
of the Zodiac, From thence streams the nourishment for
the day-consciousness. Of the night-consciousness the
disciples could say: In this condition we become aware of
how, through the power of Christ, the Sun that is
invisible during the night while passing through the
other five constellations sends the heavenly food into
our souls.
With their
Imaginative clairvoyance the disciples could feel: In our
waking state we are united with the power of Christ, with
the power of the Sun. This power transmits to us what is
meet and right for men of the present (i.e. the fourth)
epoch of civilization. And in the state of sleep the
power of Christ conveys the strengthening forces of the
nocturnal Sun from the five night-constellations. But
this applies to the epoch that is to follow our own
— to the fifth epoch of civilization. — That
is what the disciples experienced. In what way could it
be expressed? We shall go further into this in the next
lecture. I want now to speak briefly about the following.
—
In ancient
terminology, human beings en masse were referred
to as a ‘thousand’ and when it was desired to
particularise, a specific number was added. For example,
men of the fourth epoch of civilization were the
‘fourth thousand’ and those whose mode of
life was already that of the fifth epoch were the
‘fifth thousand.’ These were simply
termini technici. Hence the disciples could say:
During the waking state we are aware of what Christ's
power transmits to us from the Sun-forces radiating from
the seven day-constellations; we receive the nourishment
that is destined for men of the fourth epoch, the
‘fourth thousand’. And in our clairvoyant
state during sleep we are made aware, through the forces
radiating from the five night-constellations, of what
applies to the immediate future, to the ‘fifth
thousand.’ — Food that is destined for men of
the fourth epoch, that is to say for the ‘four
thousand’, comes down from Heaven through the seven
day-constellations, the seven ‘heavenly
loaves’; and men of the fifth epoch — the
‘five thousand’ — are fed through the
five night-constellations, the five ‘heavenly
loaves.’ The point of division between the
day-constellations and the night constellations is
indicated by specific mention of the constellation of
Pisces, the Fishes.
A secret is
touched upon here. Indication is given of something
deeply significant, namely the magical intercourse of
Christ with His disciples. Christ makes it clear to them
that He is not speaking of the old leaven of the
Pharisees but is bringing down heavenly food to them from
the Sun-forces of the Cosmos. On one occasion He has at
His disposal only the seven loaves of the seven
day-constellations, and on another the five loaves of the
five night-constellations. And between the
day-constellations and the night-constellations stands
the constellation of Pisces, the Fishes, indicating the
division. Indeed in one place, for the sake of even
greater clarification, mention, is made of two
fishes.
These
profundities in the Gospel of St. Matthew, lead back to
the proclamation made by Zarathustra, who first pointed
to the Sun-Spirit and was also one of the first
missionaries to explain to those who were receptive, the
mystery of the down-streaming, magical power of the
Sun.
But what do
glib expounders of the Bible say about these things? At
one place in St. Matthew's Gospel they find a passage
concerning the feeding of four thousand people with seven
loaves, and at another a reference to the feeding of five
thousand with five loaves, and they regard the second
account as mere repetition. They say: The transcriber of
the original text copied carelessly, as often happens. So
on one occasion it is said that four thousand people were
fed with seven loaves and on another that five thousand
were fed with five loaves. After all, that sort of thing
may well happen when a copyist is negligent! — I
have no doubt that similar things may occur when books
are being written in the modern age, but the Gospels did
not by any means come into existence in that way! When a
narrative occurs a second time there is deep meaning in
it. But because accounts in the Gospel of St. Matthew
harmonise with the indications given a century before the
appearance of the Christ by Jeschu ben Pandira, the great
Essene teacher, in order that when He came He might be
understood — because this is so we must go deeply
into the indications given in this Gospel if we are to
grasp the truths it contains. — But let us
continue. —
The power
of Imaginative, astral vision streamed from Christ to His
disciples. This too is quite clearly indicated. One might
well say: he who has eyes to read, let him read! —
as in earlier days, when it was not customary to write
everything down, it was said: he who has ears to hear,
let him hear!
He who has
eyes to read, let him read the Gospels carefully. Is
there any indication that this power of the Christ-Sun
was revealed to the disciples in one way by day and in
another by night? There is indeed. In an important place
in St. Matthew's Gospel the following is said.
—
In the
fourth watch of the night — therefore between three
and six o'clock in the morning — while the
disciples were sleeping, they saw, walking on the sea, a
figure whom they took at first to be a spirit —
that is to say, the nocturnal Sun-power reflected through
Christ. The actual hour is indicated because it was only
at a particular time that the disciples could be made
aware that this power from the Cosmos could stream to
them through the mediation of Christ. Constant references
to the position of the Sun and its relation to the
constellations, to the heavenly loaves, indicate that
through the presence of Christ Jesus in Palestine,
through this one personality a.nd individuality, a means
existed whereby the powers and forces of the Sun could
penetrate into our Earth. It is upon this cosmic nature
of Christ, this penetration of cosmic forces into the
Earth through Christ that emphasis is everywhere
laid.
Christ
Jesus was to initiate in a particular way those of His
disciples who were specially fit for it, so that they
would be able not only to see the spiritual worlds with
Imaginative vision, as it were in astral pictures, but
actually to hear what was taking place in those realms
— this, as we know, indicates ascent into
Devachan.
Hence,
having been transported into the higher worlds, these
disciples would now be able to find in those worlds the
personality known to them on the physical plane as Christ
Jesus. They were to become clairvoyant in regions higher
than the astral plane. This was not possible for all the
disciples; it was possible only for those who were the
most receptive to the power that could stream from
Christ: these disciples were Peter, James and John. The
Gospel of St. Matthew therefore relates how Christ led
the three disciples to surroundings where He could guide
them beyond the astral plane into the world of Devachan,
where they could behold the spiritual Archetypes, first
that of Christ Jesus Himself and — in order that
they might be aware of the conditions under which He was
working — also of two Beings who were connected
with Him: Elias and Moses. Elias was the ancient prophet
who, reincarnated as John the-Baptist, was also the
forerunner of Christ Jesus. The scene takes place after
the beheading of John, when he was already in the
spiritual worlds. The disciples also beheld Moses,
another spiritual forerunner of Christ.
Such an
experience was only possible when the three chosen
disciples were transported to the level of spiritual
vision higher than that of astral vision. And the fact
that they rose into Devachan is clearly indicated in St.
Matthew's Gospel, for it is said that they not only
beheld Christ filled with the power of the Sun but extra
words are added: ‘And His face did shine as the
Sun.’ It is also said that the three figures
— Christ, Elias, Moses — were talking
together. An ascent has therefore taken place into the
realm of Devachan; the disciples hear the three talking
together. (Matt. XVII, 1-13.)
Everything,
therefore, is faithfully described and tallies with the
characteristics of the spiritual world revealed to
spiritual-scientific investigation. There is never any
contradiction between the findings of this investigation
and true accounts of the deeds of Christ. It was He
Himself who led the disciples into the astral world and
then into Devachan, the realm of spirit.
Christ
Jesus is graphically depicted in the Gospel of St.
Matthew as the vehicle, the bearer, of the Sun-power once
proclaimed by Zarathustra. It is faithfully related in
this Gospel that the Spirit of the Sun — Ahura
Mazdao or Ormuzd — of whom Zarathustra could only
declare that He lived in the Sun, had lived on the Earth
through the instrumentality of Jesus of Nazareth and had
united Himself with the Earth in so real a way that
through a single life in a physical body, etheric body
and astral body, He became an impulse in Earth-evolution
and as time goes on will become even more deeply united
with it. Expressed in other words, this means: Egohood
was once present in a Personality on the Earth in such
full measure that if men receive Christ into themselves
in the sense indicated by St. Paul, they will themselves
acquire in the course of successive incarnations the
forces and power of this Egohood. As they pass from
incarnation to incarnation during the rest of earthly
evolution, men who imbue their souls with the power of
that Personality who once lived on the Earth, will rise
to greater and greater heights. At that time, chosen ones
were able with their physical eyes to behold Christ in
the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Once in the course of the
Earth's evolution, and for the sake of mankind, Christ,
who formerly could only be revealed to men's vision as
the Spirit of the Sun, descended and united Himself with
the forces of the Earth.
Man is the being in whom the power of the Sun
was to be present in its fullness — the power of
the Sun that was once to descend and work in a human
physical body. This was the inauguration of the, epoch
during which the forces outpoured from the Sun will flow
in ever greater measure into men as they live on from
incarnation to incarnation, and — as far as the
earthly body permits — gradually permeate
themselves with the Christ-power. Obviously, this is not
possible in the case of every physical body, just as it
was only that very special body, prepared through the two
Jesus figures in the complicated way described and then
brought by Zarathustra to a very lofty stage of
development — it was in that body only that the
Christ could live in His fullness once!
Men who so
resolve will permeate themselves with the Christ-Power,
first inwardly,then outwardly. Thus humanity in the
future will not only understand the nature of the Christ
but will be filled with His Power. In the Rosicrucian
Mystery Play [ Note 02 ] many of
you have been shown what form this increasing experience
of Christ will take in the evolution of humanity on the
Earth. The seeress Theodora is to be regarded as a
personality who has developed the power of seeing into
the future, of perceiving the near approach of a period
when a few human beings to begin with, and then greater
and greater numbers, will be able, not only through
spiritual training but through the stage of earthly
evolution reached by humanity in general, actually to see
the figure of Christ — but now in the etheric, not
in the physical world. In a more distant future Christ
will be seen in a form again different. Once and once
only He was to be seen in physical form by men living on
the physical plane. But the Christ Impulse would not have
taken effect had it not worked in a way that would ensure
its own further development.
We are
approaching a time — this must be taken as a
communication — when Christ will be visible to the
higher faculties of men. Before the end of the twentieth
century a few human beings will actually develop the
faculties of Theodora; and those whose spiritual eyes are
open will have the same experience that came to Paul at
the gate of Damascus — an experience possible for
him because he was ‘born out of due time’.
Before the twentieth century has run its course, a number
of people will experience Christ as Paul experienced Him
and, like Paul, will need no Gospels or ancient records
to convince them of the reality of Christ, for through
their own inner experience they will recognize Him in the
etheric world.
Christ now
reveals Himself in etheric form as He revealed Himself to
Paul, foreshadowing what would later come to pass. To us
falls the task of emphasizing one aspect of the Christ
Event, namely that He who once lived as Christ Jesus in a
physical body will appear before the end of our epoch in
an etheric form — as He appeared to Paul. If men
develop their faculties to higher and higher stages they
will learn to know the nature of Christ in its fullness;
but to appear a second time in a physical body would mean
that no progress had been made, for then His first
appearance would have been in vain, would not have
ensured the development of higher forces in human nature.
The outcome of the Christ Event is that these higher
faculties will unfold in men and that through them Christ
will be seen in the sphere where He is working. Ours is
the mission, if we understand the struggles of the
present time, to point to this event in our own age, as
the great Essene teacher, Jeschu ben Pandira, once
pointed prophetically to the Christ who would come as the
Lion born from David's line — thus again referring
to the power of the Sun, in the constellation of Leo. And
if — I say this merely as an indication — it
were to be the happy fate of humanity that Jeschu ben
Pandira — who was inspired at that time by the
great Bodhisattva, the future Maitreya Buddha —
should incarnate again in our epoch, he would consider
the task of supreme importance to be that of pointing to
the etheric Christ in the etheric world; and he would
emphasize that the Christ came once, and once only, in a
physical body.
Let us
suppose that Jeschu ben Pandira — who was stoned to
death approximately a hundred and five years before the
Christ Event in Palestine — were to reincarnate in
our time and announce the imminence of a revelation of
Christ, he would point to the Christ who cannot appear in
a physical body but is to become manifest in an etheric
form, as He was revealed to Paul at Damascus. By this
very teaching Jeschu ben Pandira could be recognized,
assuming him to be reincarnated. It is also essential to
recognize Essenism in its new form, to realise
that from the one who in future time will be the Maitreya
Buddha, we have to learn how the Christ will be
revealed in our epoch, and that it behooves us to guard
against harbouring false conceptions of Essenism due to
its possible recrudescence in the present age.
There is a
sure sign by which Jeschu ben Pandira could be
recognized, were he to reincarnate in our epoch. The sign
is that he would certainly not declare himself to be the
Christ. If anyone were to come forward in our time
claiming to bear the same power that was in Jesus of
Nazareth, he could, by this very claim, be recognized as
falsely identifying himself with the forerunner of Christ
who lived a hundred years B.C. Such an assertion would be
the surest possible sign that he is not an incarnation of
that forerunner; a false prophet would be masquerading in
him were he to claim any relationship with Christ.
The danger
in this domain is very great, for in our time humanity
fluctuates between two extremes. On the one side it is
emphasized that modern man is unwilling to recognize
spiritual forces working in the world. It has already
become a truism, referred to constantly in newspapers,
that our race has neither the insight nor the strength of
mind to acknowledge any original spiritual power when
there is evidence of it in some personality. This is one
defect of our times. It is quite true that a
reincarnation of the greatest possible significance might
take place in our epoch and be unrecognized or treated
with indifference. And the other defect is no less
apparent — it is one which our epoch has in common
with many others. Just as on the one side spiritual
Individualities are undervalued and unacknowledged, on
the other side there is present among men the liveliest
tendency to deify individuals, to place them upon
specially lofty pinnacles. Think of all the communities
to-day, each with its special Messiah. Everywhere there
is a tendency to deify, to idolize. It is, of course, a
symptom that has been repeatedly evident in the course of
the centuries.
Maimonides,
for example, tells of a false Christ who appeared in
France in 1137; he attracted many followers but was
afterwards condemned to death by the public authority.
Maimonides also relates that forty years earlier a man
appeared in Cordova, in Spain, proclaiming himself to be
the Christ. Again he relates that at the beginning of the
twelfth century a false Messiah who pointed to one still
greater, appeared in Fez, in Morocco. Finally it is
reported that in the year 1147 there appeared in Persia
an individual who did not, it is true, actually proclaim
himself to be Christ, but who suggested something of the
kind. And the most blatant phenomenon of all is the one
of which I have already spoken: the appearance of
Shabbethai Zebi in Smyrna, in the year 1666.
By
observing that individual who declared himself to be a
reincarnation of Christ, we can study in all detail the
nature of a false Messiah and his effect upon the
environment. At that time the proclamation went out from
Smyrna that a new Christ had arisen in Shabbethai Zebi.
Do not ever imagine that the movement connected with him
was insignificant. People journeyed to Smyrna from all
over Europe, from France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Hungary,
the south of Russia, North Africa and Central Asia, to
make contact with the alleged new-born Christ. It was a
great world-movement. And if anyone had said to the
people who regarded Shabbethai Zebi as a new Christ
— until he finally betrayed himself, until the hoax
was seen through — that he was not the true Christ,
they would have fared badly, they would have gravely
offended against a dogma rooted in a very large number of
human beings.
Such things
are signs of the other defect that constantly makes
itself evident, perhaps not in definitely Christian
regions, but certainly in others. A strong need is felt
to announce the appearance of Messiahs in earthly
incarnation. In Christian countries such occurrences are
usually confined to small circles; although
‘Christs’ are to be found there too.
What
matters is that through spiritual-scientific knowledge
and enlightenment, through the unerring insight into
facts that occultism is able to impart, both these
pitfalls shall be avoided. If a person understands the
relevant teachings, this will be possible; and then he
will acquire insight into a most profound historical fact
of modern times. It is that when we penetrate more deeply
into the spiritual life we can participate in a renewal
of Essene teaching which through the mouth of Jeschu ben
Pandira once prophesied the Christ Event as a physical
happening. And if Essene teaching is to be renewed in our
days, if we are resolved to shape our lives in accordance
with the living spirit of a new Bodhisattva, not with the
spirit of a tradition concerning a Bodhisattva of the
past, then we must make ourselves receptive to the
inspiration of the Bodhisattva who will subsequently
become the Maitreya Buddha. And this Bodhisattva will
inspire us by drawing attention to the near approach of
the time when in a new raiment, in an etheric body,
Christ will bring life and blessing to those who unfold
the new faculties through a new Essene wisdom. We shall
speak entirely in the sense of the inspiring Bodhisattva
who is to become the Maitreya Buddha and then we shall
not speak of how the Christ is to become perceptible on
the physical plane — in the manner of some
religious denominations. We are not afraid to speak in a
different sense because we recognize it to be the truth.
We have no bias in favour of any oriental religious
teaching but we live only for the truth. With the
knowledge gained from the inspiration of the Bodhisattva
himself we declare what form the future manifestation of
Christ will take.
Notes:
1. A learned and interesting account of
the semantic interaction between the Greek word
iaomai (‘heal’) and the Hebrew
Jeshua (transliterated into Greek as Iesus),
which was both a proper name and a word meaning
‘saviour’, will be found in Hastings'
Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels (title:
Jesus).
2. The Portal of Initiation,
Scene I See also two lectures entitled The True
Nature of the Second Coming, given in Carlsruhe
and Stuttgart, 25th January and 6th March,
191o.
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